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THE LABRADOR PENINSULA.

VOL. II.

LOXDON
PHIXTED BT SrOTTISWOODE AND CO.

NEW-6TBEET SQUAIiE

TO the: burying ground

EXPLORATIONS IN THE INTERIOR

OF

THE LABRADOR PENINSULA

THE COUNTRY OF

THE MONTxVGNAIS AND NASQUAPEE INDIANS.

HENEY YOULE HIXD, M.A. F.RG.S.

Professor of Chemistry and Geology in the University of Trinity College, Toronto : Author of

' Narrative of tlie Canadian Red River Exploring Expedition of 1857, and of the

Assinniboine and Saskatchewan Exploring Expedition of 1853.'

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

LONDON:
LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, ROBERTS, & GREEN.

1863.

CONTENTS

OF

THE SECOND VOLUME.

3j«=:JOC

CHAPTEE XXI.

THE MONTAGNAIS, OR THE TSIFE-TSI-UETIN-EUERNO, THE PEOPLE
OF THE NORTH-NORTH-EAST.

Early History of the Indian Races inhabiting the Valley of the St.
Lawrence — Jacques Cartier — The Village of Hochelaga — Cham-
plain — Tradition respecting Hochelaga — The Inhabitants of Hoche-
laga — Algonkins — Discovery of the Ruins of Hochelaga in 18G0 —
Antiquity of the Village — Indian Relics — Jesuit Accoiint of
Hochelaga and its Fate — The Algonkins of the St. Lawrence Valley
return to a Nomadic Life — Indian Relics found near Brockville —
Copper Rings — The Montagnais, or Tshe-tsi-uetin-uerno — Indian
Dance on the Saugenay — Number of the Montagnais near Quebec
in 1G32 — The Ne-e-no-il-no, or Perfect People — The Crees — •
Paul le Jeune — Customs of the Montagnais — Their former Cruelty
to Prisoners — Their Wars — Their Superstitions — Summer and
Winter — Spirits — The Kichi-kouai — The Wife of the Manitoii,
or Spirit of Evil — Belief in the Spiritual Existence of all Material
Things — Shadows and Souls — The Conjuror's Reply to Paul le
Jeune — The Vapour Bath — The Conjuror's Visions in the Bath —
Fasting — Superstitions respecting Bones— Bear-flesh — The Whiskey
Jack — Respect of the Montagnais for their Conjurors — Wide Pre-
valence of the Belief in Witchcrafts at this Period — Influeuce of the
Conjuror over the Indian Mind - Qualities of the Montagnais —
Their Feasts — Mode of conducting their Feasts — Manner of boiling

VI CONTENTS OF

CHAPTER XXI.— continued.

Meat — Their Winter Life — Former NtiinLers of the Montagnais
— The Oumamiwek — Pere Henri Nouvel — Communication with
Hudson's Bay — A. Dialogue — Pere Albanel — First Voyage by
Kupert's River to Hudson's Bay —Sorcerers — Lake St. John, a great
Indian Rendezvous — The Montagnais after the Retirement of the
Jesuits — Cartwright's Description of the Labrador Montagnais page 1

CHAPTER XXH.

THE BAY OF SEVEN ISLANDS.

Fabulous Fishes in the Bay of Seven Islands — Scenery of the Bay —
Mountain Ranges — The Seven Islands — Chi-sche-dec — .Animal
Life in the Bay — Walruses — Indians — The Islands — Otelne —
Otelne's Dream — The Nasquapees — Their Fate on the Coast —
Their Habits in their own Country — The King's Posts — The
Salmon Trade . . . . . . . . .27

CHAPTER XXIII.

SEVEN ISLANDS TO THE MINGANS.

Manitou River — Grand Falls ofManitou River — Origin of its Name
— Montagnais Tradition — The Souriquois or Micmacs — Battle of the
Manitou Falls — The Micmac Conjuror — Indian Revenge — The
Micmac Invaders of the North Shore — The Gasj)esiens — Origin of
the Name Gaspe — Mount St. John — IMagpie River — St. John
River — Oxide of Iron on the Coast — Extent to which it affects tlie
Compass — The Mingan Islands — Description of the Mingan Islands
— Oriji^in of their Names ....... 40

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE ST. LAWKENCE BELOW BIONTREAL — THE ESTUAEY AND GULF
OF ST. LAWEENCE.

Freezing of the St. Lawrence — Ice Bridges — The Winter Phenomena
of the St. Lawrence — Ice Packing and Piling — Grand Movements
of the Ice in the Winter — Dimensions of the River at Quebec —

THE SECOND VOLUME. VU

CHAPTER XXIY. —contmited.

Tributaries below Quebec — The Estuary of the St. Lawrence —
Character of the Coast — Gaspe Bay — Gaspe Peninsula — Moimt
All'KTt — Prevailing Winds in the Estuary — Utility of the Barometer
— Currents at the Entrance of the Gulf — Icebergs — Main Current of
the St. LaAvrence — AiFccted by Winds — Ice in the Estuary and
Gulf — Importance of Ice-signals — Value of the Thermometer —
Temperatiu-e of the Waters of the Estuary and Gulf — Dr. Kelly's
Obsei-vations ........ page 50

CHAPTER XXV.

THE GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE.

The Gulf of St. Lawrence — Boundaries — The Bay of Chaleurs —
Perce Rock — The Bird Rocks — Kinds of Birds which breed on the
Bird Rocks — St. Paul's Island — Dangerous Character of St. Paul's
Island and the Bird Rocks — Shij^AXTCcks in the Gulf — The Mag-
dalen Islands — Anticosti — Origin of its Name — Its Area — Timber
Resom-ces — Rivers — Character of its Shoals — Shipwrecks on the
Coast — Wreckers — Soil of the Island — Peat — Trees — Fruit-
bearing Shrubs — Peas — Character of the Seasons — Frost — Fogs
— Harbours — Fox Bay — Extensive Peat Deposits — Saw Logs —
Geological Features of Anticosti — Scenery — Provision Posts —
Imjwrtance of Harbours on Anticosti — ■ Value of the Island — Im-
portance in relation to the Fisheries of the Gulf — Importance to
Canada — The Bay of Chaleurs — Its Importance as a Port for
Steamers — Salt and Salines on Anticosti — Importance of Anticosti
to Canada .......... 65

CHAPTER XXVL

THE VOYAGE TO MINGAN.

A Gulf Fishing Schooner — Berths — Heads and Points — A bright
Day in the Gulf — Beautiful Effects of Mirage in the Estuary

— Whales — The Sulphur-bottomed Whale — The Gaspe Whale
Fishery — The White Whale — Vast Numbers of the White Whale
in the St. Lawrence — Esquimaux Mode of cajjturing the White Whale

— Sharks — Why the Captain was thankful for Sharks — Pickled

Vlll CONTENTS OF

CHAPTER ^-^Yl.— continued.

Sharks — Seaweed — Beauties of the Gulf — Landing through the
Surf in a Canoe — Long Point — New Fishing Station — Settlements
on the Coast — The Great Banks — Arrive at Mingan . page 85 ,

CHAPTER XXVIL

THE NASQUAPEES, OK THE PEOPLE STANDING UPRIGHT.

Meaning of the Word Nasquapee — Extent of their Country — Custom of
Tattooing — Religion — Nasquapees of Ungava — Horrid Practice of
destroying aged People — Means of Subsistence — Dress — Polygamy

— Battle between the Nasquapees and Esquimaux in 1857 — Im-
mense Extent of the Territory of the Nasquapees — Cartwright's
Description — Pere Arnaud's Description — Their Conjurors — The
Evil Deity Atshem — Superstitions — Fondness for Eui'opean Articles
of Dress — Character of the Country they inhabit — Hunger — Famine
among the Nasquapees — Habits and Customs — Bows and Arrows

— Nets — Hooks — Trout — The Wagumesk — Fishing in Winter

— Early Account of the Nasquapees in a.d. 1500 — Tattooing —
Pere Durocher's Description in a.d. 1853 — Extent of the Great Cree
Nation — Cause of the Decline of the Nasquapees . . 9G

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE MONTAGNAIS INDIANS.

Assemblage of Montagnais at Mingan — An Epidemic — The Winding-
sheet — Montagnais Superstition — Montagnais Fortitude — The
dying Montagnais — Death with the setting Sun — The Mingan
Graveyard — Montagnais Inscriptions — Decline of the Montagnais
Tribes — Touching Address to the Canadian Government — Number
of Indians in the Labrador Peninsiila — Canadian Commission
respecting the Condition of the Indians — Evidence of Mr. Price,
M.P.P. — Ancient Fort far in the Interior — French Cannon —
Evidence of Pere Arnaud — Evidence of Mr. Chisholm — Medicine
Feast formerly kept up — Former Ca2:)abilities of the Country to
su^iport Indians — Multitude of Porcupine, &c. — Winter Customs
of the Montagnais — The Canadian Overseer of the Salmon Fisheries
on Salmon-spearing by Torchlight — Lands set apart for the Mon-
tagnais Tribes in the King's Posts , . . . .112

THE SECOND VOLUME. IX

CHAPTER XXIX.

A ERIEF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE
LABRADOR PENINSULA.

HISTORICAL NOTICE.

Origin of Name — The Cabots — Gasjmr de Cortereal — Brest — Its
former Importance — The Ruins of Brest — Bradore Bay — Cause
of the Decline of Brest — The Count de Courtemanche — M. de
Brouagnes — The Labrador Company — Old Esquimaux Fort —
Imjiortance with Avhich Labrador was formerly regarded by the
French — Proposed Treaty with the Emperor Louis Napoleon —
Retarding Influence of Seignorial Grants — Mingan — Natashquan

— Acadian Settlers.

GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES.

Paucity of our Knowledge respecting the Interior of the Labrador
Peninsula — The Moisie Gulf Watershed — The Oiinaneme — The
Region drained by the St. John, the Mingan, the Ounaneme, and
the Natashquan — The Region drained by the St. Augustine —
Importance of the St. Augustine — Indian Route to Hamilton Inlet —
Migrations of Animals on the St. Augustine — Rich Hunting-ground

— Sterility of the Coast in the neighbourhood of the St. Augustine —
Hamilton Inlet — The Ashwanipi, or Hamilton River — The Great
Falls — Description of the Ashwanipi below Fort Nasqiiapee — The
Kenamou River — The Nasquapee or North-West River — The
Country North and North-West of Hamilton Inlet — The Country
South of the Inlet — The Plateau between the Inlet and the Gulf
of St. Lawrence — The Valley of the Ashwanipi 100 Miles from the
Inlet — Hudson Bay Company's Farm at Rigolette — The Ungava
District — South River — George's River — The Lakes of the District

— Lake Caniapuscaw — General Aspect of the Country — The Red
Spruce — Tlie Country West of Ungava Bay — Basaltic Columns of
Henley Harbour — The Mistassinni Country — Infinite Number of
Erratics — Michaux the Botanist — His Journey across the Neck of
the Peninsula — Lake Mistassinni — Indian Superstitions with respect
to a Rock in Lake Mistassinni — Origin of the Name Mistassinni —
Michaux's Description of the Mistassinni Country . . page 125

X CONTENTS OF

CHAPTER XXX.

THE LABRADOlilANS.

Origin of the Liibradoiiaus — The Condition of the Coast in 1853,
contrasted with 18G1 — Esquimaux Point — Acadians — An Aca-
dian Settlement — Reasons for emigrating to the ' North Shore '

— Natashquan — Importance of these Settlements — Spring and
Summer Life of the Laln-adorians — The only Cow on the Coast

— Character of the Coiuitry aljout Natashquan — Communication
between the Settlements — Labrador Dogs — Esquimaux Dogs —
An old Exile — Quarrelsome Dogs — The Labrador Whip —
Jealousy among the Dogs — The NcAvfoundland Favourite — The
Pig and the Goat — Sagacity of the Dogs — The Commetique —
Comparative Endurance of the Esquimaux and Mixed Breed of
Dogs — Power of the Esquimaux Whij) — The Boston Yankee —
Hosj)itality of the Labradorians — Vice of Drunkenness — Ameri-
can Tradei's — Love for the Wild Life in Labrador — The Resident
on the Atlantic Coast — The Esquimaux Half-Breeds — The
Good Results of the Labours of Moravian Missionaries — A Half-
breed Esquimaux School in a ' Tilt ' — Excellent Characters of
the Esquimaux Half-breeds — The Esquimaux of Peel's River

— Death on the Labrador — Labrador Sepulchres — Mournful
Epitaphs ........ PAGE 150

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE EOMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS OF THE LABRADOR PENINSULA.

Results of Slissionary Labour among the Indians — The Experience
and Evidence of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Quebec, in 1843 —
Inefficiency of the Early Jesuit Missionaries — Efforts in 1638 to
civihse the Hurons of Lorette — Experience of 200 Years — Some-
thing beyond an exclusive Religious Education required by Indians

— Proofs of the Fitness of certain Indian Tribes to acquire a con-
siderable degree of Civilisation and Stability — Influence of Scenery
and Country over the Moutagnais Tribes and over the Sandy Hill
Indians of Lake Huron (Ojibways) — Influence of the 'Wild Goose
Clang' on the Montagnais — Evidence of Charles Tache in 1824 —
Origin of the Jesuit Mission in Lower Canada — Results of the
Missions — An Indian Saint — Character of the Roman Catholic
Missions on the Coast — Pere Babefs Description — Pere Arnaud's
Desci'iption — Catholic Families on the North Shore . . 1G7

THE SECOND VOLUME. XI

CHAPTER XXXII.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF Tx^E NORTH SHORE OF THE GULF OF
ST. LAWRENCE AND OF THE COAST OF LABRADOR.

Divisions of the Coast — The King s Posts — The Seigneurie ofMingan

— Tlie Coast of Labrador — Hudson's Bay Company — Gradual
Settlement of the Coast — Prepared Timber for Building Purposes
procured from Quebec — Climate of Part of the North Shore —
Aspect of the Coast — The Atlantic Coast — The Atlantic Swell —
Esqiiimaux Bay — Scenery of the Bay — Rigolette — Ungava Bay —
The Fisheries of the Coast — INIigratory Population — Permanent
Population of the Canadian Coast of the Gulf — Produce of the
Canadian Coast in 1852 and 1861 — Timber of the North-east
Coast — Cartwright's Description of the Forests . . page 181

CHAPTER XXXm.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS ON THE GULF AND LABRADOR
COASTS — MORAVIAN MISSIONS.

Journal of the Bishop of Newfoundland — The first Consecration of
a Church on the Labrador — Brief History of the Church of England
on the Labrador — Resident Ministers — The Mission House at
Forteau Bay — The first Confirmation — English Point — The first
Church on the Labrador Proper, since the Destruction of Brest,
consecrated by a Bishop of the Church of England — The Bishop of
Newfoundland on the Im2:)ortance of the Labrador Fisheries —
Visitation of 1861 — The Church Ship — Meeting of the Bishops
of Quebec and Newfoundland at Forteau Bay, in 1861 — Two
Bishops, assisted by three Clergymen, celebrate the Church Service
on the Lalwador — Nvimber of People belonging to the Church of
England on the North Shore of the Gulf — The Moravian Missions

— Stations — Character of the Missionary Work — Climate of these
Stations 194

CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE SEAL FISHERY.

Excitement of the Seal Fishery — IMigrations of the Seal — Habits of
the Seal — Capabilities of the Seal — The Harbour Seal — Cause of

Xll CONTEXTS OF

CHAPTER XXXTV.—co7it{7iue(L

Wars between the INIontagnais and Esquimaux — Seal-fishing off
Natashquan — An Indian Seal Hunt — Perils of the Chase — The
Frozen Hunters — The Lost Acadians — Seal Nets — The Seal
Watcher — A Stationary Seal Fishery — The Autumn Fishing — An-
chor Ice — The Phenomena of Anchor Ice in the St. Lawrence and
other Canadian Eivers — The Spring Fishing — Pale Seal Oil —
Seal-hunting in the Atlantic — Great Value of the Newfoundland
Seal Fishery — Value of the Seal to the Esquimaux . page 201

CHAPTER XXXV.

THE rOLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL IMrORTANCE OF THE
FISHERIES OF THE GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE, LABRADOR, AND
NEWFOUNDLAND.

Importance attached to the Fisheries by different Nations — France —
Louisburg — Importance of the Fisheries to France as a Nursery
for Seamen — The First Siege of Louisburg — The Second Siege of
Louisburg — The Position of Louisbui'g — Boimties paid by the
Americans to their Fishermen — Iniiuence of Bounties on the
United States Fishing Interests — Annual Value of the United
States Fisheries — Convention with the Emperor of the French —
Condemnatory Resolutions of the Newfoundland House of As-
sembly — Brief History of the Newfoundland Fisheries — Import-
ance of ' Bait ' — Illegal Purchase of ' Bait ' — Present Annual
French Tonnage employed on the Bank Fishery — Bomities paid by
France — Testimony of a French Official respecting the Value of
the North American Fisheries — Testimony of a United States
State Document in relation to the North American Fisheries — Di-
vision of the Fisheries into Sea and River Fisheries — The Value of
the Herring Fishery — Room for Improvement — Annual Loss from
bad Curing — Herrings exported — Migratory Habits of the Her-
ring not understood — The Mackerel Fishery — In tlie Hands of
Americans — Great Importance of this Fishery — Value to the
New England States — Mode in which the New-Englanders pursue
the Mackerel Fishery — Neglect of this Fishery by Canadians and
NeAV-Bnmswickcrs — The Cod Fishery — Its Value to Newfoimd-
]and — The Salmon Fishery — Former Productiveness of the Cana-
dian Rivers — Importance ol' the proposed Intercolonial Railway to

THE SECOND VOLUME. Xlll

CHAPTER XXXY.— continued.

tlie Extension of the Gulf Fisheries — Use of Ice — Ice Wealth of
the North — The Ice Trade — Ice and fresh Fish throughout the
Union — Leasing of Canadian Salmon Rivers — Necessity for rapid
Commiinication with the Salmon Rivers, &c. — Salmon-fishing on
the Moisie — On the Godbout — Aggregate Value of the British
American Fisheries — Exports from the Provinces — The Canadian
Fisheries — Injuries and Insolence of some American Fishermen —
Artificial Oyster Beds — Great Value of the Oyster Trade in the
United States — Oyster Beds in France — Inactivity of the French
Canadians with respect to the Fisheries — Canadian Bounties —
Suggestions for Encouragement to the Canadian Fisheries page 215

Appendix : —

I. — Distances (Shore, not Sailing) from Quebec to Blanc Sablon,

the Eastern Boundary of Canada . . . .251

II. — Reflections in 1857 on the Future of British America, by
the Hon. W. H. Seward, Secretary of State, after visiting
the Coast of Labrador and Parts of Canada . . .252

III._The Indians of the Youcon, by the Rev. W. W. Kirkby . 254

IV. — The Esquimaux of Anderson's River .... 257

V. — Census of the Population of Mackenzie's River District,
June 1, 1858, from the Report of James Anderson, Esq.,
Chief Factor 200

VI. — Indian Races to the North of the Cree Himting-Groimds 2G1

VII. — The Moravian Missions in Labrador, by Brother L. T.

Reichel 2C,2

VIII. — Statistics of the North Shore of the River and Gulf of
St. Lawrence, from Port Ncuf to L'Anse aux Blancs
Sablons, 540 Miles of Sea-shore, in 1861, within the
Boundaries of Canada . . . . . .207

Index ........... 269

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

IN

THE SECOND VOLUME.

MAPS.

PAGE

JIAP OF THE PENINSULA OF LABRADOR, SHOWING THE
CANOE ROUTE FROM SEVEN ISLANDS TO HAMILTON

INLET ........ To face 125

CHROMO-LITHOGRAPHS.

TO THE BURYING-GROUND ..... Frontispkce

NASQUAPEES ........ To fcice 96

THE WINDING-SHEET .......,, 114

SEAL HUNTING IN THE GULF ....... 206

WOODCUTS.

THE CONJUROR IN HIS VAPOUR BATH 14

OTELNE's DREAM ......... 34

NASQUAPEE INDIANS AT THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY'S POST AT MIN-

GAN ........... 100

MONTAGNAIS CAMP ON ONE OF THE MINGAN ISLANDS . . .113

BUILDING CANOES . . . . . . . . . 122

ESQUIMAUX POINT, LOOKING WEST . . . . . . \b\

MINGAN FALLS .......... 238

EXPLORATIONS IN LABRADOR:

CHAPTEE XXI.

THE MONTAGNAIS, OR THE TSHE-TSI-UETIX-EUERNO, THE
PEOPLE OF THE XORTH-NORTH-EAST.

Early History of the Indian Races inhabiting the Valley of the St.
Lawrence — Jacques Cartier — The Village of Ilochelaga — Cham-
plain — Tradition respecting Ilochelaga — ■ The Inhabitants of Ilo-
chelaga — Algonkins — Discovery of the Ruins of Hochelaga in
1800 — Antiquity of. the Village — Indian Relics — Jesuit Account
of Hochelaga and its Fate — The Algonkins of the St. Lawrence
Valley return to a Xomadic Life — Indian Relics found near
Brockville — Copper Rings — The Moutagnais, or Tshe-tsi-uetin-
euerno — Indian Dance on the Saugenay — Number of the Mou-
tagnais near Quebec in 1632 — The Ne-e-no-il-no, or Perfect
People — The Crees — Paul le Jeime — Customs of the Montagiiais
— Their former Cruelty to Prisoners — Their Wars — Their Super-
stitions — Summer and Winter — Spirits — The Kichi-kouai — The
Wife of the Manitou, or Spirit of Evil — Belief in the Spiritual
Existence of all Material Things — Shadows and Souls — The
Conjuror's Reply to Paul le Jeune — The Vapour Bath — The
Conjuror's Visions in the Bath — Fasting — Superstitions respect-
ing Bones — Bear-flesh — The Whiskey Jack — Respect of the
Montagnais for their Conjurors — Wide Prevalence of the Belief
in Witchcraft at this Period — Influence of the Conjuror over the
Indian Mind — Qualities of the Montag-nais — Their Feasts —
Mode of conducting their Feasts — Manner of boiling Meat —
Their Winter Life — Former Numbers of the Montagnais — The
Oumamiwek — Pere Henri Nouvel — Communication with Hud-
son's Bay — A Dialogue — Pere Albauel — First Voyage by
Rupert's River to Hudson's Bay — Sorcerers — Lake St. John, a
great Indian Rendezvous — The Montagnais after the Retirement of
the Jesuits — Cartwright's Description of the Labrador Montagnais.

VOL. II. D

,^

2 THE LABRADOR TENINSULA. chat. xxi.

THE SEDENTARY INDIAN TRIBES OF THE
ST. LAWRENCE VALLEY.

A* EETEOSPECT of 327 years carries us far back
in the history of the savage races who once
peopled the valley of the St. Lawrence, many of whose
descendants still occupy the borders of their ancient
hunting-grounds, and preserve the superstitions and tra-
ditions of their ancestors, although they have adopted
nomadic habits.

The history of the sedentary tribes who lived in
villages on the banks of the great river is still wrapped
in great obscurity, but, with the progress of settle-
ment, fresh discoveries of aboriginal antiquities made
from time to time cast a glimmering hght on the life
of these mysterious races, who have left remains of
their villages, burying-places, and battle-fields, in the wide
valley of the St. Lawrence from Lake Ontario to the
sea.

On October 3, 1535, when Francis I., the very Christian
king, was on the throne of France, and Henry VIIL, the
defender of the faith, was flourishing in England, Jacques
Cartier, a mariner from St. Malo, visited tlie Indian
village of Hochelaga, situated near the spot where the
city of Montreal now stands, and there found a race of
Indians, of wliom now not even the name is known with
certainty, cultivating the soil and living in a semi-civihsed
state. The road to this ancient village was through large
fields of Indian corn.* Its outline was circular, and it

* Boswortli's HnvltcJoffn Depict a.

(HAP. XXI. TIIK VILI.AUH OF HOCIIELAGA. 3

was encompassed by three separate rows of palisades, or
rather picket fences, one within the other, well secured
and put together. The single entrance to this rude
fortification was guarded with pikes and stakes, and every
precaution was taken against sudden attack. The cabins
or lodges of the inhabitants, about fifty in number, were
each fifty feet in length by fifteen in breadth. They
were formed of wood and covered with bark. Above the
doors of these houses, as w^ell as along the outer rows of
the palisades, ran a gallery, ascended by ladders, where
stones and other missiles were ranged in order for the
defence of the place. Each house contained several
chambers, and the whole were so arranged as to enclose
an open court-yard, where the fire was made.

In 1603, Champlain appears to have satisfied himself
that the village of Hochelaga had wholly disappeared, for
we hear nothing even of the site it once occupied until
1642, when Montreal was founded by the French under
the Sieur Maisonneuve. On this occasion some very
interesting statements were made by the Jesuits in their
memoirs respecting the fate of Hochelaga.* We are
informed that at this date no trace of Cartier's Hochelaga
was known, except a name which the Indians had given
to tlie island, importing that it had been the site of
a village or fort. Two aged Indians who accompanied
some of the new colonists to the mountain-top, stated
that they were descendants of the original inhabitants ;
that their tribe had at one time inhabited all the
surrounding region, even to tlie south of the river, and

* Jesuit Memoirs, 1(>42.
B 2

4 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxi.

possessed many populous villages ; that the hostile Hurons
had conquered and expelled them ; that some of the tribe
had taken refuge among the Abenakis, others among the
Iroquois, others among the Hurons themselves. One of
the old men stated that his grandfather had cultivated the
very place before them, and dwelt much on the excel-
lence of its soil and the fitness of the chmate for raising
Indian corn ; but the incursions of the Iroquois Avere too
much dreaded to permit the reoccupation of the island.
The missionaries further remarked that these people had
become migratory, oAving to the dangers to which they
were exposed. Other statements show that Atcheast, one
of the men above mentioned, was one of a band regarded
as Algonkins by the missionaries. These people were
invited by the French to return to the island of Montreal,
and were promised protection from the Iroquois ; but their
fears do not seem to have been overcome until the conclu-
sion of peace in 164G, when a number of famihes formed
a settlement, which appears to have existed only for a
short time, when they Ijegan again to dread the Iroquois.
At this time those who regarded themselves as original
Montrealers spoke the Algonkin tongue, and their tribal
name was Onontchataronons or Iroquet. Their chief at
this time was Taouichkaron.*

Tlie recent discovery of the remains of an ancient
Indian village at Montreal has given a fresh impetus to
enquiries respecting the earlier inhabitants of the valley
of the St. Lawrence and the condition of their civiUsation.

In an area not exceeding two imperial acres, twenty

* Notes on Aboriginal ^\.ntiqnities recently disco\erecl in the Island of
Montreal, bj' J)r. Dawson, Canadian Natnralist and Geologist.

CHAP. XXI. INDIAN SKELETONS AND RELICS. 5

skeletons liave been disinterred within twelve months, and
the workmen state that many parts of the ground exca-
vated in former years were even more rich in such remains.
Hundreds of old fire-places, and indications of at least
ten or twelve huts or lodges, have also been found, and in
a few instances tliese occur over the burial-places, as if
one generation had built its huts upon the graves of
another. Where habitations have stood, the ground is in
some places, to the depth of three feet, a black mass
saturated with carbonaceous matter, and full of bones of
wild animals, charcoal, pottery, and remains of implements
of stone or bone. In such places the black soil is lami-
nated, as if deposited in successive layers on the more
depressed parts of the surface. The length of time during
which the site was occupied is also indicated by the state
of the bones and bone implements, some of those in
the deeper parts being apparently much older than those
nearer the surface. Similar proofs are furnished by the
pottery, as well as by the abundant remains of animals
used as food found throughout the area.

All these indications point to a long residence of the
aborigines on this spot, while the almost entire absence
of articles of European manufacture in the undisturbed
portions of the ground, implies a date coeval with the
discovery of the country. The few objects of this kind
found in circumstances which prevented the supposition
of mere superficial intermixture, are just sufficient to
show that the village existed until the arrival of Euro-
peans. Among the fragments of pottery, pipes, and early
Indian art, found in making these excavations, the bone
implements are most interesting. Skewers and bodkins.

6 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. ciiap. xxi.

some with a circular stamp on the end, were probably
used for ornamenting pottery, others in playing the
celebrated Indian ' game of bones,' for which purpose
probably were also employed the many 'objects of un-
known use formed of bones of the feet of quadrupeds
ground flat on one side, and hollowed in a peculiar
manner, with a small hole bored in one end.' *

The aborigines of Montreal were of the Algonkin
race.f Cartier evidently represents the languages spoken
at Stadacona or Quebec and Hochelaga as identical. Many
words which he mentions incidentally are the same, or
only shghtly varied, and he gives one vocabulary for the
language of both places. This accords perfectly with the
direct statement of the Jesuits' memou-s, that the tribe
which maintain that their ancestors had inhabited
Montreal spoke the Algonkin language both in the time
of Cartier and in 1642. These people were also pohti-
cally and socially connected with the Algonkins of the
Lower St. Lawrence. The people of Hochelaga informed
Cartier that the country to the south-west was inhabited
by hostile races, formidable to them in war. These must
have been the Hurons or Iroquois or botJi. In agree-
ment with this, the Jesuits were informed, in 1642, that

* Notes ou Aborigiual Autiquities recently discovered in the Island of
Montreal.

t In the Relations of the Jesuits, we find the following notices of these
ancient inhabitants of Hochelaga : —

Onontchataronon, Huron name of an Algonkin tribe, which the
French called Xation de I'lroquet. The country was situated between the
St. Lawrence and the Ottawa. They were among those Algonkin nations
who were in the habit of wintering in the neighbourhood of the Hurons.
This people, according to the testimony of one of the chiefs, was formerly
one of the most flourishing Algonkin tribes.

CHAP. XXI. HISTORY OF THE ALGOXKINS. 7

the Hurons bad destroyed the village, that people having
formerly been hostile to the Algonkins, though then at
peace with them.

In the time of Cartier, the Algonkins of Montreal and
its vicinity were gi\ang way before the Ii'oquois and
Hurons, and shortly after lost possession finally of the
Island of Montreal. The statement of the two Indians
in 1642 implies that at a more ancient period the Al-
gonkins had extended themselves far to the south and
west of Montreal. This tradition strikingly resembles
that of the Delawares, that their ancestors, allied with
the Iroquois, had driven before them the Allegewe, a
people dwelling, like the Algonkins, in wooden-walled
villages, though the Iroquois had subsequently quarrelled
with the Delawares as with the Hurons. The two his-
tories are strictly parallel, if not parts of the same great
movement of population. We further learn from the
Jesuit missionaries that portions of the displaced Algonkin
population were absorbed by the Hurons and Iroquois —
an important fact to students of the relative physical and
social traits of these races.

' The displacement of the Algonkins tended to reduce
them to a lower state of barbarism. Cartier evidently
regards the people of Hochelaga as more stationary and
agricultural than those farther to the east ; and it is
natural that a semi-civilised people, when unable to live
in security and driven into a less favourable chmate,
should betake themselves to a ruder and more migratory
life, as the descendants of these people are recorded by
the Jesuits to have actually done. If Hochelaga, with
its well-cultivated fields and stationary and apparently

8 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap xxi.

unwarlike population,* was only a remnant of multitudes
of similar villages once scattered through the great plain
of Lower Canada, but destroyed long before the occupation
of the country by the French, then we have here an actual
historical instance of that displacement of settled and
peaceful tribes, which is supposed to have taken place so
extensively in America.'

In an ancient Indian burying-ground near BrockviUe,
on the banks of the River St. Lawrence, were recently
discovered two skeletons in a sitting posture, on a floor
of clay supposed to be artificial. Underneath three flat
stones, placed on edge and converging at the top, copper
rings were placed, together with a sea-shell. Further
discoveries will probably throw additional light on the
ancient connnerce of the earlier sedentary tribes of the
St. Lawrence, whose curious and most interesting relics
are every day turned up by the plough of the back-
woodsman, or whose burying-places and village sites are
revealed as tlie forest disappears before the axe of the

* Our primitive Algoukins of Montreal may thus claim to have been a
remnant of one of those old semi-civilised races whose remains, scattered
over various parts of North America, have excited so much speculation.
Had C artier arrived a few years later, he would have found no Hochelaga.
Had he arrived a century earlier, he might have seen many similar villages
scattered over a country occupied in his time by hostile races.

These views are, perhaps, little more than mere speculation, but they
open up paths of profitable enquiry. To what extent was the civilisation of
the Iroquois and Hurons derived from the races they displaced ? "^^^lat are
the actual differences between such remains as those foimd at IMoutreal and
those of the Hurons in Upper Canada ? Are there any remains of villages-
in Lower Canada which might confirm the statements of the two old
Indians in 1G42 ? '

' Notes on Aboriginal Antiquities recently discovered in the Island of
Montreal, by Dr. Dawson.

CHAP. XXI. INDIAN WARS. 9

settler. From these rude and almost illegible memorials
we turn to the accounts which have been handed down
since the first settlement of the country respecting the
wild Montagnais tribes, wdio appear always to ha\'e
preserved their savage nomadic character.

THE MONTAGNAIS, OR TSHE-TSI-UETIN-EUERNO.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Cham-
plain was an eye-witness to an Indian dance near the
mouth of the Saugenay in celebration of a great victory
over the Mohawks. The Montagnais had alhed them-
selves with the Etchemins and Algonkins to the num-
ber of 1,000, and went up the St. Lawrence as far as the
Iroquois or Mohawk Kiver below Montreal, in the country
of the Mohawks.

In those days Indian warfare on the St. Lawrence was
prosecuted on a large scale, and armies moved in canoes
for many hundred miles.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, the Montagnais
Indians, in communication with the early French Jesuits,
were roughly estimated at not less than 1,000 strong,
within easy reach of Quebec. Their country at that
period was supposed to extend from the St. Lawrence,
near the island of Orleans or Quebec, to Anticosti, on the
north shore of the river and gulf of St. Lawrence, a
distance of about 600 miles ; thence back towards the
north-east, as far as the dividing ridge between the
valley of the St. Lawrence and Hudson's Bay.

The actual extent of the area they occupied was
probably much greater, and reached from the St. Maurice

10 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxi.

Eiver to the Atlantic coast of Labrador. Tliey called
themselves the people of the north -north-east, or the
Tshe-tsi-uetin-euerno,* and were formerly a numerous
and warlike nomadic 'nation. A curious circumstance
connected with the direction in which they came to the
Labrador Peninsula is that they also term themselves the
Ne-e-no-il-no, or perfect people. A resemblance between
this name and that of the M-the-wuk (' Exact or
Complete Men ') of Sir John Eichardson will be re-
cognised at once, more especially when it is known that
the Crees referred to by Sir John Eichardson had their
hunting-grounds on the west of Hudson's Bay, bounded
by the great prairies on the south and the country of the
Chipewyans on the north. f

The Cree branch of the great Algonkin race ex-
tended themselves far beyond the bounds of their
brethren in origm and language, the Ojibways, and now
overlap them on both sides by more than 1,000 miles.

Paul le Jeune, a Jesuit missionary, visited the
Montagnais of the Lower St. Lawrence in 1632, and
remained with them until he had made himself familiar
with their language. | When first he saw some of these
Indians, who came on board the vessel which was sailmg
towards Quebec, their faces were painted with red, blue,

* Mr. Mackenzie of Mingan, -who speaks the Moutagnais language as
well as English, informed me that this was the name that these people
called themselves. They belong to the Cree nation of the Algonkin
family ; they are called Montagnais by the French Canadians, and Monta-
gnais, Montaignets, or Montagnards, or Algonkin Inferi euros, by the Jesuits
and their early historians ; the English Canadians frequently call them
Mountaineers.

t Ne or Ni signifies 'exactly.' Arctic Searching P]xpedition.

X Relation des Jesuites, 1632.

CHAP. XXI. INDIAN BRUTALITY. 11

tuid black stripes, according to each man's fancy and
taste ; their clothing was made of the beaver, bear, or fox
skins ; they wore no covering on the head, and their long
black and greasy hair hung low over their shoulders ;
they were armed with bow and arrows, a shield, and a
lance.

When Paul le Jeune arrived at Tadousac, 170 miles
below Quebec, he found a war-party of Montagnais, who
had just returned from an expedition against the Iroquois
or Mohawks with three prisoners. Entering the lodge
of the chief, whicli was constructed of birch-bark, sup-
ported on poles, and sufficiently long to hold three fires
five or six feet apart, he was an eye-witness to the bru-
tal ceremonies which are practised by all known races
of North American Indians when their prisoners are
brought into camp — ceremonies so revolting as to call
from the Jesuit father the following expressive sentence : —

' In short, they make them suffer everything that
cruelty and tlie devil could put in their minds.'

Of their wars with the Mohawks to the west, and the
Esquimaux to the east, between 250 and 300 j^ears ago,
there not only remain traditions, but the names of many
places in the Labrador Peninsula are derived from bloody
battles with their bold and cruel western enemies, or the
stolid and progressive Esquimaux.

By Gabriel Sagard (1636), the first historian of the
great Huron nation, the Montagnais were represented as
the lowest order of the Indian races then known to
Europeans in the valley of the St. Lawrence ; the Hurons
occupied the highest position, living in fortified villages
between Lake Huron and Ontario. The Algonkins

12 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap xxr.

were ranked in point of intelligence and in their ap-
proaclies to a sedentary life between the Hurons and the
Montagnais.

All Indians, whether of the woods, prairies, or sea-
coast, are more or less snperstitious. The Montagnais,
inhabiting, as their name implies, a mountainous country,
have always been distinguished by the number and
variety of their traditions and religious delusions.

Summer and winter with them were represented by
two divinities * — Nipinoukhe and Pipou-noukhe. The
first of these brought the balmy spring ; the second
ushered in the merciless winter. Tliese divinities were
supposed to divide the entire world between them, each
occupying half in turn for about five moons ; for the
Montagnais only recognised ten moons in the year, and
they considered February to be the longest of them all.
They beheved in the existence of spirits of the air, which
possessed a knowledge of futurity, and presided over
their health, feasts, and hunts. One of the chief oc-
cupations of their many conjurors was to consult these
spirits in cases of sickness or famine, or before any of the
band set out on a hunting expedition. The ceremonies
then performed, like those which are common at tlie
present day among the wild Cree tribes of the valley of
the Saskatchewan, were generally accompanied by a
great shaking of the conjurors' tents, throwing of fire
amidst the spectators, apparent vocal communion with
the spirits in the inside of the tent, and other mysteries
easily explained. The sacrifices they rendered to these

* Paul le Jeune, E elation des Jesuites, 1634.

CHAP. XXI. INDIAN SUPEESTITIONS. 13

deities, wliom they called Kichi-koiiai, consisted simply
of a small quantity of fat thrown into the fire before they
tasted the food procm^ed by their assistance. The
Manitou, or ' Spirit of Evil,' was supposed to exercise a
malignant influence upon their fortune or on themselves,
not on his own account, but owing to the hatred borne by
his wife towards mankind. Tliis Manitou, while presiding
over their wars, was thought to hurt those only who
were killed or taken prisoners, but his wife was declared
to be the origin of all their domestic troubles, and she was
spitefully represented as clothed in garments made from
the hair of men and women who had been killed
through her instrumentality. The Montagnais believed
not only in their own life after death, but in the spiritual
existence of every material thing. They supposed that
the spirit or soul of every object was hke its shadow, and
in this belief they cast a small portion of whatever they
ate into the fire, for the sustenance of the soul of the
thing destroyed. These souls were thought to reside in
a country situated near the setting sun, the happy
hunting grounds of Indian mythology. On their journey
to this far-distant country, they travelled during the
night, sustaining themselves by hunting the spirits of the
beaver, the porcupine, and the caribou. They walked
on the shadow of snow-shoes in winter, and killed their
game with the shadows of the arms they had been ac-
customed to use in life. Paul le Jeune asked the
conjurors what became of the souls of the beaver, &c.,
that were killed by the souls of Indians traveUing to
the settmg sun ; the conjuror replied, ' Be stiU ; you
are talking about things which you do not imderstand.

14

THE LABRADOR PENINSULA.

CHAP. XXI.

If I ]uid been in that country, I would haye answered
you.'*

The vapour-bath played an important part in their
ceremonies : it was not only used for medicinal purposes,
but in it the conjurors were accustomed to propitiate the
deities, or Kichi-kouai, who presided over their hunting-
grounds. The conjurors would frequently pretend to see
the feeding haunts of the caribou or moose, the winter

THE CONJUROR IN HIS VAPOUK-BATH.

lair of the bear, or the coming geese in tlie spring, from
their vaporous tabernacle, and give the news in a loud
voice to the credulous spectators squatting on the
outside. It was generally constructed in the same
manner as the vapour-baths of the present day, but
sometimes of much larger dimensions, so that two,
three, and even more might enjoy the bath together,

* IJf'latiou des Jesuites, 1684.

CHAP. xxr.

INDIAN CONJURORS.

making the woods resound with their songs, shouts, and
whoops. Frequently remaining for several hours in the
bath, they came out covered with perspiration, and in a
very exhausted state. If the bath was used for curative
purposes, tliey plunged at once into the neighbouring-
lake or river.

There does not appear to be any change in the use of
the vapour-bath at the present day among the uncivilised
Crees, Ojibways, Nasquapees, &c,, and the large number
of holes with stones lying near them for heating, which I
saw on the portages in the country drained by the Moisie,
show that this favourite pastime or ' medicine ' is still
frequently resorted to by the Montagnais.

Fasting was common among the Montagnais, and
lasted sometimes for eight days. Besides their super-
stitions respecting particular bones of the female porcu-
pine, the beaver, and certain birds, and the care with
whicli they preserved the blood and bones of the bears
they had killed, they had a singular observance whenever
one of these animals was brought into camp.

No young children or girls or young married women
who had not yet become mothers were permitted to
remain in the lodge, either during the cooking of the
bear or during the subsequent feast. Bear-flesh, in any
form whatever, was only allowed to be eaten by adult
males and mothers. They would never permit the
Canadian Jay or Whiskey Jack, which they called Ouich-
cat-chan, to enter their lodges, lest they should have
pains in the head ; but they examined the gizzard of this
bird with the greatest care, to see if it contained any
fragments resembling the bones of tlie moose, or an_y

16 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxi.

other large animal, in the belief that if such were dis-
covered they would soon kill one of the animals whose
bones were figured in it. They rejected the marrow in
the vertebne of the spine of every animal, beheving that,
if they were to eat it, they would thenceforward be
subject to pains in the back.

Paul le Jeune relates that hi liis time, in 1633, tlie
Montagnais paid the utmost respect to their conjurors,
and were greatly afraid of them. Often would the con-
juror assemble the whole camp at midnight or at two
aiid three in the morning, during a piercing cold, the
women bringing their httle children through the deep
snows to the conjuror's or a neighbour's lodge ; yet none
ever complained of being summoned from their lodges
at untimely hours, or in bad weather, or for useless
purposes, but all patiently waited through the long cold
night to hear the prophetic visions of the impostor.

The power of the conjuror has often induced the
Crees to commit outrages against the whites, in some
instances attended with terrible bloodshed and murder.
So late as tlie year 1831, the Indians of Eupert's Eiver and
James's Bay — Mustegans,* as they are termed — inspired
by the promises of their conjuror, attacked a post of the
Hudson's Bay Company, and killed the officer in charge,
his family, and some employes, in all twelve persons ;
they next determined to attack Eupert's house, and then
Moose factory, but happily some of the people attached
to the post first attacked escaped and found their way

* Mustegans, allied to the Swampys. They are Crees, and those of the
Avest side of the Labrador Peninsula are, in many respects, like the Xas-
quapees.

CHAP. XXI. MONTAGXAIS FEASTS. I7

to Moose. Assistance was procured ; the conjuror and
his most violent adherents were taken prisoners, and
either hung or shot: tlius terminating an Indian insmTec-
tion against the whites, often conceived and spoken of by
the conjurors, but attempted without the shghtest prospect
of success.

The Montagnais have many characteristics of the
western Crees, the race to which they belong. They do
not appear to sorrow for any calamity but the death of a
relative or friend. They are kind and hospitable ; they
hate the name of a miser, and, altliough fond of gambling,
show no desh^e to hoard wealth of any kind. Having
little sympathy with suffering, like other races of Indians'^
they are very patient and enduring, except when will-
fully insulted. Pere le Jeune spoke disparagingly of the
chastity of the Montagnais of his time. He says that, like
the Hurons, they preferred the son of a sister to succeed
the chief rather than his own child, so weU were they
aware of the immorahty of theii' wives.

The Montagnais had two kinds of feasts— a religious
feast, or one at which it was incumbent on each gue^t to
assist in consuming every particle of the food prepared ;
and an ordinary feast, when they ate as much as they
pleased, carrying the remainder home.

In times of scarcity, when an Indian would kill three
or four beaver and return to his lodge with them, whether
ni the middle of the night, at the dawn of morning, or at
noon-day, he made a feast at once, inviting all his friends.
The men to whom the invitation was addressed would
reply, Ho ! ho ! ho ! ho ! and immediately snatch up
their birch-bark dishes and wooden spoons and repair to

VOL. II. ^

18 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxi.

the lodge of the giver of the feast, which was proclaimed
in honour of the deity who presided over the chase. Each
guest took his place in silence, putting his legs underneath
his haunches and sitting hke a Turk. If a Manitousin or
conjuror happened to be present, he beat his drum during
the feast, but no word was spoken by any of the guests.
At an ordinary feast it was permitted to talk, laugh, and
enjoy the good tilings of this hfe. When the fire of the
master of the feast was surrounded by the guests, he
seized the bkch-bark cooking vessel and divided its
contents amongst them, without reserving anything for
himself; but his neighboiu" took care to select some of the
best portions, as they were passed to him to distribute,
and lay them on one side. Wlien all were served, he
would turn to the master of the feast, and, presenting him
with the reserved portions, say, ' Here is your share.'
The birch-bark dish with its contents was received with
a Ho ! ho ! ho ! and the savage assemblage set to work,
Hterally, with ' tooth and nail.'

They boiled their meat in vessels of birch-bark by
introducing red-hot stones until the meat was cooked,
and the broth was always drunk after the meat was eaten.
The women dried moose flesh, and laid up a store of
smoked eels for winter use ; and in times of famine,
which were not unfrequent in the scYenteenth century,
they had recom^se to the inner bark of the birch and to
caribou moss. Wlien at war with their inveterate ene-
mies, the Iroquois or Mohawks, the men made shields of
cedar, sufficiently large to cover the entire body, con-
structed of a single piece of wood, very Hght and slightly
curved. They exhibited great ingenuity of construction.

CHAP. sxi. DIMINUTION OF POPULATION. 19

when the primitive implements used in their manufacture
are regarded.

Their winter hfe was continually varied by change of
camp-ground. Every few days they would move camp
in search of game, subsisting upon moose, caribou, bear,
porcupine, and rabbits, hke the wild Montagnais, Nasqua-
pees, and Ojibways of the present day.

In 1645 the Montagnais nation, in conjunction with
their alhes the Algonkins, made peace with the Mohawks
at Three Eivers. They began even then to complain that
the game was getting scarce, in consequence of the
encroachments of the French, and that they would be
better off if they abandoned their wandering mode of life
and cultivated the soil hke the Mohawks and the Hurons.
But the Montagnais were then, as now, whoUy unfitted
for a settled mode of life ; hence they have never suc-
ceeded in rising above the level of first-rate hunters in
the woods.

The year preceding their wars with the Mohawks, in
1644, disease and famine had so reduced the number of
Indians in the neighbourhood of the Lower St. Lawrence,
that in places where, eight years before, the missionaries
had been accustomed to see from eighty to one hundred
lodges at the different wintering stations, they then saw
only five or six. Notwithstanding this great dimmution
in their numbers, Barthelmy Vimont, a Superior of the
French Jesuit Missions in Canada, writing from Quebec, in
1644, an accoimt of the state of the missions, refers to
the vast population of Indians of Algonkin origin which
peopled the valley of the St. Lawrence. His account is,
no doubt, greatly exaggerated. He speaks not of tens of

c 2

20 THE LACKADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxi.

thousands, but of hundreds of thousands, awaiting the zeal
of the missionaries. Most of the other Jesuit fathers speak
of the scarcity of aborigines belonging to the Algonkin
races, although they represent the Hurons and Iroquois
or Mohawks to have been very numerous. The different
tribes wliich formed the Montagnais nation were many
in number, and scattered over an immense extent of
country. The Jesuits, among other insignificant bands,
speak of a nation called the Oumamiwek, whose hunting-
grounds were to the north-east of the Bersiamits, about
340 miles below Quebec. In 1652 Pere Jean de Quest
visited a number of these people, who had come to
the coast from the interior. They were at the time at
war with the Gaspe Indians, who were in the habit of
crossing the St. Lawrence to hunt the moose, bear, and
beaver, with which their country abounded. He further
says, ' They are either Bersiamits (Montagnais) or some
aUies of the Esquimaux, who inhabit the northern coasts
of the Gulf below Anticosti.'

In 1661 Pere Pierre BaiUoquet visited seven or eight
different nations (tribes probably), 480 miles below
Quebec, named the Papinachiois, the Bersiamites, la
Nation des Monts Peles, the Oumamiwek, and their
allies.*

In 1664 Pere Henri Nouvel reached Lake Manicouagan
in the country of the Papinachiois, a Montagnais tribe.
Beyond, and north of the Papinachiois hunting-grounds,
was the country of the Ochestgouetch. Among some of
these people whom he saw at Lake Manicouagan was an

• Relation de la Nouvelle France, en I'Ann^e 16G1.

cu.u'. XXI. EOUTE TO IIUDSOX S BAY. 21

Oumanois chief, who had been to Hudson's Bay in the
' North Sea ' by that route. A constant Hue of com-
munication was kept up between the St. La^vrence and
Hudson's Bay by different Indian tribes, chiefly Mon-
tagnais, and one of the first indications of this traffic is
given in the following dialogue wliich took place be-
tween Henri Nouvel and their chief.

Priest — ' Is it far to the two villages where you and
your relatives hve ? '

Chief. — ' You may travel there in twenty nights or
thereabouts.' (Indians of the present day would say,
' You will sleep twenty nights on the road.')

Priest. — ' Are the two villages thickly peopled ? '

Chief. — ' There are many people there.'

Priest. — ' Are there other villages near them ? '

Chief. — ' Yes, there are two, and fiuther on two other
villages.'

Priest. — ' Is it very far to the village on the North
Sea ? ' (Hudson's Bay.)

Chief. — ' It will take a winter to go there and return.'

Priest. — ' Have you been to the North Sea ? '

Chief— 'Yes.'

Priest. — ' Is the coast of that sea inhabited ? '

Chief. — ' I have seen a number of Lidians there.'
******

Priest. — ' Have Europeans, French, Spanish, or English,

been on that coast ?'*

azy.— 'No.'t

* Tlie Montagnais told Cliamplain fifty years before this that they traded
mtli a people to the north who visited the salt sea on the other side,
t Relation de la Nouvelle France, en I'Ann^e 1G64.

22 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxi.

Ill 1671 Pere Albanel accompanied Monsieur de Saint-
Simon up the Saugenay and Mistassinni rivers through
Lake Mistassinni, and then down Eupert Eiver to Hud-
son's Bay. There were three or four different routes
followed by the Indians between the St. Lawrence and
Hudson's Bay; the starting-points from the St. Lawrence
being the Ottawa, the St. Maurice, the Saugenay, and
the Moisie Eiver. The Saugenay route was first known
to Europeans.

In 1670 Pere Albanel met on the Eiver Godbout 130
Indians, consisting in part of Oumamiwek, and partly of an-
other tribe called Ochessigiriniouek. The Eiver Godbout
is eight miles west of Point des Monts, or 261 miles below
Quebec accordmg to our modern measurement, Pere
Albanel describes these Lidians as entirely clothed in
the skms of the caribou, decorated with porcupine quills
and coloured feathers. Hunger was their great enemy.
They did not understand the use of fire-arms, but were
very skillful with the bow and arrow, and esteemed
themselves rich if they possessed a fishing-net. The
tribes named in the preceding paragraphs were pro-
bably Montagnais, with the exception of the Nation
des Monts Peles and the Oumamiwek, whose hunting-
grounds were in the country now occupied by a portion
of the Nasquapee tribe, and who may have belonged
to that people. It is remarkable that the Pere Albanel
says that polygamy was considered infamous among
the Oumamiwek, and that they had an aversion to con-
jurors.

In describing the Nasquapees who firequent Ungava
Bay, Ml". W. A. Davies, quoting from a journal written

CHAP. XXI. RECEXT HISTOEY OF THE MONTAGNAIS. 23

by an officer of tlie Hudson's Bay Company who was
stationed at Ungava Bay, says : 'As to their rehgion, they
appear to have some crude notions of a deity, and are
very superstitious ; but, strange to say, there are no
" medicine-men " among them.'

This may apply to one or two particular bands of
Nasquapees, but it is certainly not the case with those
who hunt on the Ashwanipi or in the country south of
the' Ungava chstrict. In December 1861 I applied to
Mr. McLean, who resided five years at Ungava, for
information on this point. Mi'. McLean says : ' Un-
doubtedly they (the Nasquapees of the Ungava district)
have conjurors amongst them, but they are not such adepts
in the art divine as their confreres in the north-west.'

Lake St. John on the Saugenay was the great ren-
dezvous for the different Montagnais tribes as well as of
the Nasquapees and other nations who spoke dialects of
the Algonkin tongue. Li 1671 and 1672, Monsieur de
Samt-Simon made the first voyage from the St. Lawrence
to Hudson's Bay up the Saugenay, through Lake St.
John. The missionary describes Lake St. John, which
he had frequently visited, as being formerly the place
where all the nations inhabiting the country between
the ' two seas,' towards the east and north, assembled to
barter theu" furs. He states that he had seen the re-
presentatives of more than twenty nations assembled
there. But in 1671 the population of those regions had
greatly diminished, on account of the small-pox and the
wars with the Mohawks.

After the retirement of the Jesuit missionaries to France
we hear little of the Montagnais until the close of the

24 THE LABRADOR PEXIXSULA. chap. xxi.

last and the beginning of tlie present century. For more
than one hundred years they appear to have been ahnost
entirely neglected by the missionaries, so that the whole
nation, which was still numerous, became to a great ex-
tent heathen once more.

In 1786 Cartwright, describing the Montagnais whom
he saw on the Atlantic coast of Labrador, says : —

These people * inhabit the interior parts of the country,
which they traverse by the assistance of canoes covered with
birch-rinds in the summer, and of rackets or snow-shoes in
the winter. Their weapons are guns and bows ; the latter are
used only to kill moose game, but their chief dependence is on
the gun, and they are excellent marksmen, particularly with
single ball. They are wonderfully clever at killing deer, other-
wise they would starve ; and when they are in a part of the
country in the winter time where deer are scarce, they will
follow a herd by the slot day and night until they tire them
quite down, when they are sure to kill them all. I must not
be understood literall}^, that they take no rest all that time, for
if the night is light enough they rest only four or five hours,
then pursue again : which space of time being too short for
the deer to obtain either rest or food, they are commonly jaded
out by the fourth day They kill beavers by watch-
ing for and shooting them, or by staking their houses, the
method of doing which I will endeavour to explain. If the
pond where the beaver house is be not capable of being drawn
dry, they cut a hole through the roof of the house into the
lodging, to discover the angles ; they then run stakes through
at the edge of the water, where the house is always soft, parallel
to each other, across each angle, and so near together that no
beaver can pass between. The stakes being all fitted in their
places, they draw them up to permit the beavers to return into
the house (the hole in the top being covered up so close as not
to admit au}^ light), and then hunt with their dogs, backwards

* Cartwriglit's Sixteen Years on the Coast of Labrador, 1786, vol. iii.
p. 229.

CHAP. XXI. INDIAN HUNTERS. 25

and forwards, round the edges of the pond, to discover where
they have hid themselves under the hollow banks, taking es-
pecial care not to go near the house until they can find them
no longer anywhere else. They then approach it very cau-
tiously, replace the stakes with the utmost expedition, throw
the covering off the hole, and kill them with spears made for
the purpose. When they have a canoe, they will drive the pond
in the manner already described without disturbing the house ;
and when they suppose the beavers are all in, they place a
strong net round it ; then, making an opening, they kill them
as they strike out of the house. They will also place a net
across a contraction in the pond where there happens to be one,
and kill them there in the course of driving. But as it is
seldom that the whole crew or family are killed by these means,
hermit beavers are always observed to be most numerous in
those parts of the country which are frequented by Indians.
The mountaineers are also very dexterous in imitating the
call of every bird and beast, by which they decoy them close to
their lurking-places. And as the destruction of animals is their
whole study, there is not one whose nature and haunts they are
not perfectly well acquainted with, insomuch that one man will
maintain himself, a wife, and five or six children in greater
plenty, and with a more regular supply, than any European
could support himself singly, although he were a better shot.
As these people never stay long in a place, consequently they
never build houses, but live the year round in miserable wig-
wams, the coverings of which are deer-skins and birch -rinds.
They profess the Romish religion, but know no more of it than
merely to repeat a prayer or two, count their beads, and see a
priest whenever they go to Quebec.

The Jesuit missions of tlie Saugenay and the King's
Posts commenced in 1816. The first mission of Tadousac
for the conversion of the Montagnais was under the Pere
Dolbeau, and he continued until 1629, when Quebec was
taken by the English. In 1661 the Peres Gabriel Dreu-
illet and Claude Dablon undertook to ascend the Saugenay

26 THE LABIL\DOR rENINSUL.\. cn.vr. xxi.

to its source and found the mission of Assuapmuslian,
about 300 miles from the mouth of tlie Saugenay. The
Saugenay missions were kept up until 1716, when for a
period of thi*ee years the missions were left destitute.
In 1720 they were resumed by the Pere Pierre-]\Iicliel
Lam-e. He was succeeded by Pere Jean-Baptiste Maiu-ice,
who remained among the Montagnais until 1745, and was
succeeded by Pere Claude-Godefroy Cocquart. His suc-
cessor, Pere Jean-Baptiste de la Brosse, in 1766, extended
the missions to the south of the Saugenay, and also to
the Bay of Chalem-s. In 1769 he established schools at
Seven Islands, and composed an alphabet and a catechism
for the Montagnais. He found the Montagnais who
assembled there utterly destitute of rehgion. The chapel
which Pere Cocquart had built there was burnt in 1759
by the English during the expedition to Quebec. In
1769 Pere de la Brosse visited the different trading posts
on the north shore of the gulf, as far as Masquarro. He
wrote a dictionary of the Montagnais language, and died
about the year 1776. He was the last Jesuit who served
the Saugenay missions. After liis death the bishops of
Quebec took the missions under their charge, causing
them to be visited each year by one of their priests,
between Tadousac and Masquarro, and in the interior as
far as the Lake St. John.

Such were the habits, customs, and superstitions of
the Montagnais Indians from the time they were first
known to Europeans up to the close of the last century.
The present condition of this wide-spread branch of
the great Cree nation ^\411 form the subject of a fiitiu-e
chapter.

27

CEArXEll XXII.

THE BAY OF SEVEX ISLANDS.

Fabulous Fishes in the Bay of Seven Islands — Scenery of the
Bay — Mountain Ranges — The Seven Islands — Chi-sche-dec —
Animal Life in the Bay — Walruses — Indians — The Islands —
Otelne — Otelxe's Dream — The Nasquapees — Their Fate on
the Coast — Their Habits in their own Country — The King's
Posts — The Salmon Trade.

THE Bay of Seven Islands is deservedly celebrated for
its wild beauty, but there are historical associations
belonging to it which give it an additional charm. Jacques
Cartier visited it in 1535, and in the narrative of his
second voyage he tells a marvellous tale about many
fishes which, according to the testimony of two Indians
he had Avith him, ' have the shape of horses, spending the
night on land and the day in the sea.' These terrible
animals were said to inhabit in great numbers a river
emptying itself into the bay.

Lescarbot, who wrote in 1G09, says that these marvel-
lous fishes were ' hippopotami.' * He also mentions that
in his time the name of the river was changed to Chi-sche-
dec, an Indian appellation ; and in the Jesuit Eelation for
1640 a tribe of Indians called Chisedeck are stated to
have inhabited this part of the country.

• Histoire de la Nouvelle France, par Marc Lescarbot. Paris, 1009.

28 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxn.

Seven Islands Bay is about six miles long, two and a
half wide at its entrance, and is nearly land-locked by the
islands and a bold peninsula at its western extremity,
rising 737 feet above the sea ; the bottom is of clay, and
without shoals, so that this beautiful bay forms one of the
best and most sheltered anchorages on the north shore of
the Gulf.

From the east point of the bay a broad shelving sandy
beach extends to the river, where the mission chapel is
situated, and where the building of the Hudson's Bay
Company's post still remains. From the deck of our
schooner the two parallel ranges of mountains which add
so much to the beauty of the distant scenery of this bay
look hke huge and impenetrable barriers between the
coast and the howhng wilderness beyond them. The
summits of the nearest range are 1,300 feet, and those of
the more distant upwards of 1,700 feet above the sea.*
Between the bay and the mountains there is a con-
siderable extent of lowland, probably underlaid by lime-
stone, for a hmestone reef exists near one of the islands,
and doubtless extends far towards Anticosti.

The Seven Islands, beautiful at a distance, seem on a
nearer view hopelessly rugged and barren. The summit
of the largest is 700 feet above the sea, and two others
rise 500 and 457 feet above the same level. So bold are
these island rocks, and so suddenly do some of them rise
from the sea, that there is no anchorage to be found close
to them on the seaward side. They are mountain peaks,
starting suddenly from the ocean — giant outlooks, from

• Bayfield.

THAP. XXII. THE BAY OF SEVEN ISLANDS. 29

which many a Montagnais war-party has anxiously
watched for coming Esquimaux, Mohawks, Iroquois, or
Micmacs, and on which, alas ! some fine barques have been
wrecked in an attempt to gain one of the entrances to the
fair and sheltered haven which they enclose.

Seven Islands Bay, or, if its old Indian name were
preserved, Chi-sche-dec Bay, has many a tale of savage hfe
to teU. It has always been a great Montagnais rendezvous,
not only on account of its admirable situation, but because
it lies between two great lines of Indian communication
to the interior, and even across the Peninsula to Hudson's
Bay. It is connected by a broad and deep vaUey with
Lake St. John, 300 miles to the south-west, through
which an Indian winter road formerly ran ; it is also close
to the Moisie, which once formed part of a canoe route to
Hudson's Bay.

In the spring and at the approach of winter it is visited
by myriads of ducks, geese, and swans ; it was formerly a
favourite haunt of the walrus, which, although not now
seen even in the Gulf itself, was once common as far up
the great Eiver St. Lawrence as the mouth of the
Saugenay, and from this animal the ' Pointe aux Yaches,'
about a mile below Tadousac, takes its name.* Not
improbably the 'fishes like horses' which the Indians
described as frequenting the Chi-sche-dec, and which
Lescarbot calls hippopotami, were these huge animals.
More than 700 Indians in a hundred canoes have
assembled in this bay during the present generation ;
and the scenes of riot and debauchery equalled the

* Bouchette, 1832.

30 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxii.

war-dances which centuries before were celebrated by
victorious warriors around their tortured prisoners.

The summit of the Great Boule, 700 feet above the
sea, and the brow of the bold peninsula on the west side
of the harbour, were two noted outlooks in the good
old Montagnais times. They are not unfrequently
visited now, when the Indians of the coast wish to show
theu^ country to tlie Nasquapees from the interior, and tell
them of their ancient wars with the Esquimaux.

It has been akeady stated that in 1660 the Mon-
tagnais of Seven Islands sent messengers to the Jesuit
missionaries at Tadousac requesting them to send a
teacher, as they dared not bring theu- children to be
baptised for fear of the Mohawks. They were able to
hold their own against the Esquimaux, in consequence of
the almost exclusively maritime habits of that people,
who rarely ascended the rivers further than the first faUs
or rapids ; and they fearlessly pursued their way through
the interior of the country as far as the Straits of Belle
Isle and Hamilton Inlet, but exercising the utmost caution
as they approached the sea to hunt for seals. They
brouQ;ht with them even there on the wild Atlantic coast,
1,400 miles from the Iroquois country, the fear of the
Mohawks, and even those who now approach tlie Atlantic
coast of Labrador without fear of molestation from
the Esquimaux are startled into silence at the word
' Mohawk ' or ' Iroquois.'

The magnificent sandy beach on the east side of the
bay, with its fringe of beautiful but small white and
balsam spruce, forming the boundary of tlie forest which
covers the flat country in the rear, is a most attractive

CHAP. XXII. SCENERY OF THE BAY. 31

camp-ground, ample enough for 10,000 Montagnais
lodges. On a summer day, with a gentle breeze blowing
to drive mosquitoes away, it becomes a delightful but
very lonely lounge ; and at the entrance to the channel,
opposite the Great Boule island, with the sea in front, the
calm rippling bay at your feet, the silent forest just
behind, backed by the everlasting hills, mconceivably
desolate and wild, which stretch for a thousand miles
towards the west, it is a fit spot for old memories to renew
themselves, old sorrows to burst out afresh. So, evidently,
Otelne thought and found ; for as I was bathing about a
mile from the mission on the Friday after our arrival, I
saw an Indian sitting among the tall coarse grass which
grew on the edge of the sloping beach. After a plunge
in the cold water, observing him still retaining his posture,
I went up to him, and when he turned at my approach
I saw it was Otelne. He made no sign, but without
expression of any kind took the seal-skin tobacco-pouch I
offered him, filled his pipe, brought out his flint and steel,
struck a hght, and, turning in silence towards the ocean,
smoked without saying a word. After a short time I
uttered the Ojibway word for sun, calling his attention by
pointing with the finger to the hght which the setting sun
was casting upon the Seven Islands. He watched it with
apparent interest as it slowly rose up the side of the
Grande Boule, when the sun descended behind the range
of high hiUs in the rear of the bay.

As soon as the last rose-tint fled from the summit, he
shook the ashes out of his pipe, and touching me, while
still squatting on the ground, pointed to the summit of
the Great Boule. Bising on his knees, he began to speak.

32 THE LABRADOE PENINSULA. chap. xxii.

pointing to different directions of the compass, tlien to
himself, then particularly to the west, and at the same
time accompanying his address with such admirable signs
tliat, although I could understand but very few of the
words he was saying, it was evident he spoke of his
coming to Seven Islands Bay from a great distance, that
]iis party when he arrived consisted of some fifteen
persons, that six or seven had died, four gone to the
west again, and four remained behind : the numbers
he represented by holding up his fingers. After a long
speech he sank down again on the sand and looked at the
rising tide, paying no attention to my second offer of the
tobacco-pouch.

I returned to the mission determined to get an in-
terpretation of the long speech he had made. This
was effected in the following manner : — A young Mon-
tagnais who could speak English well, and who went
with Pere Arnaud up the Manicouagan Eiver, came after
nightfall to biing me a map he had di^awn, and I told
him about Otelne. ' Oh ! ' said he, ' it is nothing ; he has
been dreaming.'

' Dreammg ? ' said I ; ' what do you mean ? '

' I mean he has been thinking about his own country :
he and the other Nasquapees often do it ; they want to get
back.'

' Can you bring Otelne to my tent,' I said, ' and
interpret the long speech he made to me ? '

' Certainly,' he repHed. ' Ask Otelne to have a cup of
tea and a little molasses, and he will tell his speech over
again.'

' Will he tell it truthfully ? ' I asked.

CHAP. XXII. AX INDIANS DREAM. 33

'If you want it, he will say to you just what he said on
the beach.'

Oteliie came in half an hour, and, after a very hearty
supper, the young Montagnais explained my wish to
know what he was saying to me during the afternoon.

' I was dreaming,' said Otehie.

' Then let me hear what you dreamt,' I replied.

The Indian smiled, said he would tell what he was
dreaming about, and hoped that it might be of some use
to him and his people.

The interpretation of his ' dream ' occupied a long time ;
and if I have not given it literally or at length, it still
contains the thoughts of the poor Indian, expressed
perhaps less fully than in his own tongue, but more
intelligibly to those who are not familiar with the style of
an Indian's thoughts, or the forms of expression which he
gives to his feelings in words.

Otelne's Deeam.

' I looked upon the sea for the first time two summers
ago. I was hunting on Ashwanipi, when these Mon-
tagnais told me of the robe noire, of what he would do
for me ; they told me of the sea, of ships, and of many
thmgs. We held a council at Petichikupau ; many were
present — my father, my brothers and uncles, my cousins
and many friends.

'My father is old. He spoke and said : — " Do not be-
lieve what these Montagnais say. The country is far; you
will never come back. Where are those who went two
summers ago ? Three only have returned : the rest are
dead. They have seen the robe noire — seen the great

VOL. II. D

:U

THE LABRADOR PENINSULA.

CIIAr. XXIT.

waters. Are they wiser and l:)ctter than we are noAv ? Can
they hunt better — kill more caribou — collect more furs?
No. My counsel is — do not go."

' My uncle is an old man. He spoke and said : — " Two
summers since, twice ten men and women and children
went to the south. Where are they now ? Are there not
many here who have seen the great waters to the

OTELNE S DREAM.

west ? Are they better than we are ? If the robe noire
wants to see us, let him come here. My counsel is —
do not go."

' Others spoke, old men : they all said, "Do not go."
' One spoke, a young man — he lies there now, he is dead !
He said, " We are young and strong; we can go and see the
robe 7ioire. If we find that the countiy is poor, we can
come back at once. What can we do here ? Do not all
see that the caribou are gone ? We must soon starve if
we stay where we are. I shall go."

CHAP. XXII. INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE ON INDIANS. 35

' Others spoke, young men : they said they were strong
and would go. They he there now : tliey are dead ; their
wives are dead, their httle children are dead.

' I spoke, and said I was strong — I would go and see
the robe noire.''

' When the ice went away, we came down the Moisie,
fifteen people. Otliers came down the St. Marguerite,
beyond there ; others went down the Trinity. Many soon
fell sick and died ; some went back after they had seen
the robe noire. Last year I wanted to go back, but was
too weak. Only four of those who came with me still
remain here. What are we to do ? If we go back, we
shall not see the priest again. He cannot come to our
country — it is too far. We shall soon forget what he has
taught us ; our children will be heathens again. I believe
in God, a great and good God, and all that he has done for
us. Shall I go back to the wilderness where I shall never
hear of God ? shall I take my children back to be afraid
of devils ? shall I stay here and die, or see them die, one
by one, before my eyes — see my wife die, and feel that I
am dying myself? What shall I do.^

' Look at that sea : it is clear and briglit, but to-morrow,
it may be, there will be fog, fog ; and then, what shall I
feel here ? pain, pain ! and I shall know then that 1 am
going to follow those who have lingered a httle while,
and then died.

' I am not in my own country ; I do not breathe
my own air ; I have not hunted a caribou since I
came to the coast ; I have not my old strength ; I am
weak and full of care. If I were in my own country, I
should be strong and happy, if I should not forget what

D 2

36 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. cHAr. xxti.

he (the priest) has taught me. I do not know what
to do !

' This is wliat I was thinking of, when you saw me on
the beach. This is my dream.

' Mah thsit ka Isitskinashka paslatils a ia mitonan '
(Mary, thou refuge of sinners ! pray for us).

Poor Otehie ! well might he sit there on that beautiful
shore and ' dream.' His fate, and that of all who remain
on the coast, is sealed.

The Kasquapees cannot endure sudden changes of
temperature, fogs and damp ; they have been accus-
tomed to dry cold, however severe. The simple yet
excellent artifices which they employ to keep tliemselves
from freezing on the coldest night, are useless against the
penetrating damp of spring on the coast. A JSTasquapee,
on tlie bleak and cheerless mountains of the interior, has
his leathern tent, his bag full of eider down, his deer-skin
robe, his kettle, and a little caribou meat. At the approach
of night he throws his limbs into the leather bag, and
arranges the down al)out him, rolls himself in his robe,
draws his knees to his chin, and under the half shelter of
his little tent sleeps soundly, however cold and insinua-
ting may be the driving snow. But on the coast, tlie
damp penetrates to his bones ; he sits shivering over a
smoky fire, loses heart, and sinks under the repeated
attacks of influenza brought on by changes in the tem-
perature.

The trading post at Seven Islands was formerly one
of the most important on the Gulf of the St. Lawrence.
It is of ancient date, and more than 130 years ago was
frequented by the French. It subsequently belonged to

CHAP. XXII. THE KING S POSTS. 37

the King's Posts Company, and was afterwards leased to
the Hudson's Bay Company, who have lately abandoned
it, as well as several others, in the same territory, whieh
formerly held a high reputation. The fur-bearing
animals are so diminished in number throuo;hout the
region which these posts were designed to serve, that
many of them have now fallen into the hands of private
persons, whose tenure is far from being advantageous
to the Indians who frequent them.

Soon after the formation of the French settlements in
various parts of Canada, the Government of France
turned tlie wilderness of the country to account by
farming or leasing extensive waste ' domains,' receiving
an annual consideration for the monopoly of the fur
trade and fisheries within the boundaries of particular
districts.* The tract termed the Bang's Domain (Domaine
du Ptoi), which formed part of the ' United Farms of
France,' was partially surveyed between the years 1731
and 1733, and its boundaries are described in a document
issued by the Intendant Hocquart, bearing date May 23,
1733.

The territory of the King's Posts extended from Point
Neuf to Cape Cormorant,- a distance of 270 miles, and
back to the dividino; ridge between the St. Lawrence and
Hudson's Bay.f

In 1832 the King's Posts were under lease to a private

' Boucliette.

t For the precise boundaries of the Domaine du Roi, see Bouchette's
British Dominions in North Amei-ica, p. 29G, or his TojmgrajMcal Dictionary
of Lower Canada. A map of the Domaine was constructed by the mis-
sionary Pere Laure, in 1731, a copy of which is to be found in tlic Library
of Parliament, Quebec.

38

THE LABKADOK PENINSULA.

CHAP. XXII.

gentleman, at a rental of 1,200/. a year. There were then
nine posts, all of which, with the exception of the Moisie and
Seven Islands, had been previously occupied by the French,*
and some of them at a comparatively remote period.

The post at Metabetshuan is near the mouth of a river
of that name, flowing into Lake St. John. In the
seventeenth century the Jesuits had an establishment
there, and the furrows made by the plough are still seen
in the lands near the garden. These lands, which were
once cleared, are overgrown again with a forest of spruce
asj)en, fir, birch, and pine. The apple and plum trees
which existed in the memory of people living in 1832 have
disappeared. At the King's Posts and fisheries in 1832,
450 men were employed, and 500 in the Indian trade.
Subsequently the territory was leased to the Hudson's
Bay Company, and extensive estabhshments carried on, all
of which, however, have greatly declined latterly. The
following list of posts in the occupation of the Company,
situated within the hmits described above, was given in
the returns presented to the House of Commons in 1857 : —

King's Posts.

Tadousac

No. of Inai.aiis
frequenting it

. 100

Cliicoutimi

. 100

Lake St. Joliu

. 250

Isle Jeremie

. 250

Godbout .

. 100

Seven Islands

. 300
1,100

* The principal posts in 1832 were: — 1. Tadousac. 2. Chicoutimi.
3. Lake St. John. 4. Necoubau. 5. Mistassinni. 6. Papinachois. 7. Mus-
kapis. 8. Moisie. 9. Seven Islands. There were also outposts at Lake
Chamachoui, on the Saugenay ; Assuapmoussin, on a river of that name ; and
Metabetshuan, on Lake St. John.

CHAP. XXII. THE SALMON TRADE. 39

All vessels trading on the north shore of the Gulf
have to obtain their clearances at Seven Islands, so that
scarcely a day passes without a visit from a schooner
bound up or down the St. Lawrence. As we passed the
Great Boule, we met a fast-saihng schooner, laden with
fresh salmon, from the Moisie, bound for Quebec. We
learned afterwards that she reached her destination in
four days, a distance of 350 miles.

The trade in fresli salmon is gradually growing into
importance, and, if the fisheries are properly protected,
there is no doubt that it will soon become an interest of
considerable magnitude. Fresh salmon packed in ice can
be transported to Quebec or Eiviere de Loup, and sent by
Grand Trunk Eailroad to all parts of Canada, and thence
to New York or the far west. The expectation is far
from being visionary, that the salmon of the rivers
tributary to the Gulf, securely packed in ice, will
find their way as far south as New Orleans. When the
intercolonial railway is completed, the task will be com-
paratively easy, and vessels fr^om the north shore may land
their cargoes at Gaspe, where ice to any extent can be
laid up in store. The ice vessels trading to New Orleans,
from Boston and other northern ports, will afford an
excellent means, when peace is estabhshed, for conveying
the salmon of the cold Gulf of St. Lawrence to the almost
tropical shores of the Gulf of Mexico ; or they may find a
more expeditious passage by the railroads in the valley of
the St. Lawrence and the steamers of the ]\iississippi.

40 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxiii.

CHAPTEE XXIII.

SEVEN ISLANDS TO THE MINGANS.

Manitou Iliver — Grand Falls of Manitoii Eiver — Origin of its
Name — Montagnais Tradition — The Souriquois or INIicmacs —
Battle of the Manitou Falls — The Micmac Conjuror — Indian
Revenge — The Micmac Invaders of the North Shore — The
Gaspesieus — Origin of the Name Gaspe — Mount St. John —
Magpie River — St. John River — Oxide of Iron on the Coast —
Extent to which it aftects the Compass — The Mingan Islands —
Description of Mingan Islands — Origin of their Names.

A FINE breeze soon took us beyond the Seven Islands
into the estuary of the St. Lawrence. When fairly
in open water, the first range of hills in the rear of the
bay is seen to be the prolongation of the Grand Portage
on the Moisie, which had been our great trouble about
five weeks before. The range ^ comes on the coast at
Trout Eiver, six miles beyond the mouth of the Moisie,
and between it and the shores of the Gidf are very
extensive flats covered with forest. The cascades of
Buchan Falls [uid Hatteras Eiver, which leap directly into
the sea, are pretty objects even at a distance, but they are
utterly thrown into the shade by tlie magnificent cataract
of Manitou Eiver, which, at the distance of a mile and a
half from the coast, makes a grand plunge of 113 feet
sheer down. This river, perhaps the third or fomtli in
])oint of magnitude on the whole coast, takes its rise in
lakes on the table-land. It is surpassed in volume of

CHAP. xxm. THE MANITOU RIVER. 41

water by the Moisie, the St. John, and the Oimamane, or
Eomain Eiver ; but the stupendous cataract at its mouth
gives it a beauty which the others do not possess.

The name, Manitou Eiver, is suggestive, but it is pro-
bably an abbreviation of Manitousin or Conjuror's Eiver,
if the Indian rule be observed of giving new names
to places on account of any remarkable event which has
happened there.

Manitou Eiver takes its name from the following
incident, which is often described in Montagnais wigwams
to eager listeners never weary of repetition. About 200
years ago, when the Lower St. Lawrence was first visited
by the Jesuits, the Montagnais were at war with the
Souriquois or Micmacs of Acadia, who inhabited the south
shore of the St. Lawrence and the country now called
New Brunswick. A large party of Micmacs had crossed
over the estuary of the St. Lawrence at its narrowest
point and coasted towards Seven Islands, but, not finding
any Montagnais there, they descended during the night-
time to the Moisie, and thence to the Manitou Eiver, down
which stream a few Montaa;uais bands were accustomed to
come from the interior to the coast, to fish for salmon and
seals. The Micmacs landed some miles before they reached
Manitou Eiver, hid their canoes in the woods, and stole
towards the falls of the Manitou, to he in ambush until
the Montagnais should descend to the portage or carrying-
place round the falls from the interior. Some other Mon-
tagnais families were at the same time on their way from
the upper waters of the Moisie, where they had been
wintering at the same rendezvous, and when witliin a few
miles of the Manitou falls they saw the Micmacs' tracks.

4-2 THE LABRADOR TENINSULA. ciiAr. xxiii.

Tliey instantly hid tlieir canoes, sent a messenger to warn
their friends who were coming down the Manitou, and,
tracing the Micmacs' tracks to the spot where they had
landed, found their canoes in charge of three or four
of the party, whom they surprised and scalped, and then
hid themselves until such time as their messenger should
return to state whether he was successful or not in
warning the other canoes. He arrived just in time, and,
after a short council, they divided into two parties, one
party remaining with the women and children, the other
going with the messenger to join in the attack upon the
Micmacs. As soon as they had found their camps, which
were situated one near the head and one at the foot of
the portage round the falls, they agreed upon a plan of
attack. Stealing along the coast at night, the Montagnais
came upon the ]\iicmac camp at the foot of the falls, and
succeeded in killing or taking prisoners all who were
sleeping there ; the noise of the falling water preventing
the sound of the scuffle from reaching their friends above,
who were watching near the head of the falls. As soon
as the conflict was over, they bound their prisoners and
stole up the portage path to surprise the second party.
They were heard by the watchers, and the alarm was
given. The Montagnais knew their strength and that of
the enemy, and in the dim morning light began the fight
at once, and after severe loss succeeded in killing or
taking all but the leader of the Micmacs' band, a noted
warrior and conjuror, and one whom the Montagnais
were most anxious to take alive. Finding escape hopeless,
he sprang to the edge of the cataract, and, crouching
behind a rock, began to sing a defiant Avar-song, occa-

CHAP, xxiii. THE CONJURORS FALLS. 43

sionally sending an arrow with fatal effect at those
who were bold enough to sliow themselves. The Mon-
tagnais, sure of their prey, contented themselves with
singing their songs of triiniiph. The Micmac chief and
conjuror suddenly jumped upon the rock behind v/hicli
he was hidden, and approached the Montagnais, telling
them to shoot. But the Montagnais wanted their prisoner
alive, so they let their arrows rest. The conjuror next
threw away his bow and arrows, and invited them to come
and attack him with their knives. The Montagnais
chief, anxious to display his courage, rose from his con-
cealment, knife in hand, and, throwing away his bow and
arrows, sprang towards the Micmac, who, to the amaze-
ment of all beholders, retreated towards the edge of the
rock overhanging the falls, thus drawing his enemy on,
when, with sudden spring, he locked him in a fatal
embrace, and, struggling towards the edge of the preci-
pice, leaped witli a shout of triumph into the foaming
waters, and was instantly swept away over the tremendous
cataract, which has since borne the name of the Conjuror's
or the Manitousin Falls.

The Micmacs or Souriquois have played no unimportant
part in the history of the Labrador Peninsula, especially
in that portion of it which was formerly known as the
country of the Bersiamits, a Montagnais tribe, whose
lodges were grouped on the Bersiamits Eiver, and on
other tributaries to the estuary as far east as the Mingan
Islands. The hunting-grounds of the Micmac nation, in
the year 1600, extended over Nova Scotia, New Bruns-
wick, and part of the Gaspe Peninsula in Canada. Their
nimibers were estimated at 3,500. They entertained a

44 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxiii.

mortal hatred towards the Bersiamits, and not iinfre-
quently invaded their country, an attempt generally re-
sulting in bloody encounters, and in the death of many
combatants. These battles were chiefly confined to the
coast, as the Micmacs did not often venture far into the
interior. Their country was for along time called Acadia,
the origin of which name is said to be as follows : — ' The
aboriginal Micmacs of Nova Scotia, being of a practical
turn of mind, were in the habit of bestowing on places
the names of the useful articles which could be found in
them, affixing to such terms the word Acadia, denoting
the local abundance of the particular objects to which
the names referred.' *

They w^ere first described by Jacques Cartier in 1535,
and subsequently called by the French missionaries Gas-
pesiens. ' They appeared,' says Cartier, ' to have no pro-
perty but their bark canoes, under which tliey slept at
night, and nets made of some kind of Indian hemp ; and
were probably a fishing party, whose wigwams might
have been at the head of the bay, where their descendants
still reside. They had abundance of maize and various
kinds of fruits, some of which they dried for winter use.'
The name Gaspe is derived from the language of these
Indians, and is stated to mean as nearly as possible the
'Land's End.'f

The Micmacs of Gaspe frequently crossed over to

* Acadian Geology, by J. W. Dawson, F.G.S.

t M. Hamel, quoted by Stuart in a paper on Canadian Names in Proc.
of Quebec Lit. and Hist. Society, gives the meaning as ' Bout de La pointe
de terre.' It is, perhaps, identical with the termination ' gash ' in names of
points of land in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick ; as, Malagash, Fraeade-
gash.

CHAP, xxiii. MOUNT ST. JOTIX AND THE MAGPIE RIVER. 45

Anticosti, and tlience to tlie Mingan Islands, in search of
their enemies, the Montagnais. Tlie Jesuit missionaries
describe various conflicts about the middle of the seven-
teenth century on this line of route.

A great landmark comes into view after passing the
Manitou, called Mount St. John, 1,410 feet above the
sea, and eleven miles up the river of the same name.
But before the mouth of this stream is reached, an
important inland hue of communication, called Magpie
Eiver, empties itself into the Gulf five miles from the
mouth of the St. John. The sources of this river are
close to those of the east branch of the Moisie, and the
lakes which feed it can be seen from the highest point we
reached, at an elevation of more than 2,000 feet above
the ocean, and within twenty miles of the east branch.
Three hundred yards from the sea Magpie Eiver falls over
a ledge of perpendicular gneissoid rocks thirty feet in
height. The Eiver St. John is one of the largest on the
coast, and is important as a communication with the
interior. The east branch of the Moisie, the head-waters
of the Magpie, the Manitou, and the St. John Eiver, are
close to one another, and there are well-known portages
between them, about 120 miles from the sea, in a country
intersected with lakes and broad expansions of sluggish
streams. The mouth of the St. Jolm is only six miles
and a half fi'om the westernmost part of the Mingan
Islands, called the Perroquets, on which the ill-fated
steamers Clyde and North Briton were wrecked in
September 1857 and November 1861. The coast be-
tween the mouth of the St. Jolm and the Bay of Seven
Islands contains abundance of the black mac^netic oxide

46 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxiir.

of iron, not only in tlie gneissoid rocks which rise im-
mediately from the sea in bold hills 200 to 300 feet high,
but in the sand of the shore, and throughout the exten-
sive flats which occur between the hills when they retire
from the coast and the sea margin.

In some places, such as Sawbill Eiver, twenty-three miles
and a half west of St. John, the black oxide is found in
nests and veins ; but the magnetic action of the ferruginous
minerals has not been observed to affect the compass five
or six miles from shore. Admiral Bayfield says, in his
' Sailing Directions,' that ' an opinion is prevalent that the
compasses of vessels are disturbed in the Gulf and Eiver
St. La^vrence, and such disturbances have been attributed
to the magnetic ores of ii^on in the hills, particularly
those of the north coast. The magnetic oxide of iron
does exist abundantly, and attracts the needle very
powerfully at some points, particularly along the coast
from the Bay of Seven Islands eastward. Among the
Mingan Islands, we found the variation to vary from this
cause from 19° to 31° west. At Port Neuf and Mani-
couagan Point the needle was also disturbed ; but these
effects were only noticed when the instrument was placed
on shore. In two instances only, when sailing within
two miles from the shore, have we observed any effect of
the kind upon the compasses on board the Gulnare, and
then only to the amount of a few degrees. When
running from place to place, at greater distances from the
coast, nothing of the kind has been noticed ; so that I
feel sure, that in nine cases out of ten, where this source
of erroneous reckoning has been alleged as the cause of
accidents to vessels, they originated either in errors of the

CHAP. XXIII. THE MINGAN ISLANDS. 47

clmrt, or in the local attraction on board the vessels
themselves.' The loss of the North Briton steam- vessel
has been attributed to the local attraction of the magnetic
iron ore on the coast ; but not only does the testimony of
Admiral Bayfield militate against this view, but the proper
sailino; direction of the vessel would not brinoj her within
twice or thrice the distance mentioned by Bayfield as
within the limits of attraction.

The westernmost of the Mingan Islands came well into
view on one side, with Anticosti on the other, after
passing the mouth of the St. John. These islands are
twenty-nine in number, some of them being very small,
and the largest not exceeding eleven or twelve miles in
circumference. The most easterly is named the St.
Genevieve : the celebrated western isle is one of the Perro-
quets, near which lie the wrecks of the two noble steamers
before mentioned, together with many a fine schooner
and barque.

The Mingan Islands are of lower Silurian hmestone,
dipping slightly to the south, at an inclination of about
sixty to eighty feet to the mile, outliers of the great
Silurian basin of North America, formerly connected with
Anticosti in one unbroken plain, resting on the Lauren-
tian rocks of the mainland, and marking the boundary
of the old Silurian seas. These islands of most ancient
fossiliferous rock (Birdseye to Calciferous) are generally
low, none of them having an elevation of more than 300
feet above the ocean ; but the mountainous mainland in
their rear rises to the height of more tlian 1,000 feet, and
in one instance already named, that of Mount St. John, an
elevation of more than 1,400 feet is attained. On these

48 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. crap, xxiii.

islands some interesting geological records are to be found.
Ancient beaches, well defined, as if moulded during the
present generation, rise far above the highest tides. And
water-worn rocks, shaped Hke gigantic Eg}^tian pillars,
front the sea, and give a strange and artificial aspect to
some of these wave-worn rocks. Seals and cod abound
upon the hmestone reefs and shoals. The four most
western islands, called the Perroquets, from the vast
number of those birds which burrow and build on them,
are low limestone rocks, quite denuded of trees.

The variation of the compass between the Straits of
Belle Isle and Cape Whittle* was ascertained by Mr.
Lane, E.N., in 1768, and by Bayfield in 1834. The va-
riation found by Lane was 26° west, and by Bayfield
32°_33° west, showing a difierence of 6° to 7^

The north-western of the Perroquets is the highest of
the group, and on it the steamers North Briton and
Clyde struck. It has a layer of peat on its summit, in
which vast numbers of puffins burrow and rear their
young. Shoal water lies off" this island for the distance of
a quarter of a mile, both to the eastward and westward ;
but a vessel may pass to the north of it, at a distance
of 200 fathoms, in 14 or 15 fathoms water. The
Mingan Islands f are bold on the north side, and free

* More correctly between Mistanoque Harbour and Mecatina.
■f The Mingan Islands consist of : —

Perroquets, four low islands.

Outer Birch Islands, one mile broad.

Inner Birch Islands, one mile and a quarter broad ;

Harbour Island, one mile and a quarter broad.

Montague Island, one mile and a quarter broad.

Moniac Island, half a mile broad.

Mingan Island, two miles long and one mile broad.

CHAP. XXIII. THE ESTUAEY OF THE ST. LAWEENCE. 49

from danger to mariners, but shoals generally project
towards Anticosti. All the islands are named from
some historical association, or from natural features,
— Mingan Island, from the first Seigneur; Moniac
Island, from the duck of that species which frequents it ;
Walrus Island, in consequence of its being formerly a
favourite haunt of that strange marine animal, now no
longer an inhabitant of the Gulf; Esquimaux Island,
because the Esquimaux were wont to assemble there
every spring, in searcli of seals, &c., &c. These islands,
with Anticosti and Cape Rosier, form the boundaries of
the estuary of the St. Lawrence. It is here 105 miles
broad, Anticosti separating the vast estuary into two
channels, the northern fourteen miles and a half broad,
the southern about sixty miles in width.

Large Island (eleven miles in circumference), the largest island.

Quarry Island, two miles and a half long.

Niapisca Island, two miles long.

Gum Island, one mile and a quarter long.

Fright Island, two-thirds of a mile long.

Esquimaux Island, two miles and three quarters long, one mile and
three quarters wide.

Gull Island.

Green Island.

Walrus Island (Sea-cow Island), one mile and a half long.

Whale Island.

Charles Island, three miles long, one mile and a half wide.

St. Genevieve, five miles in circumference.

Gorge Rock.
These limestone islands extend for forty-five miles along the coast, none
of them 300 feet above the sea. They are thickly wooded with spruce,
birch, and poplar ; plenty of seals on the reefs, and codfish off the coast ;
wild fowl are abundant in the season.

VOL. IT.

.')') THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxrv.

CHAPTEE XXIV.

THE ST. LAWRENCE BELOW MONTREAL THE ESTUARY AND

GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE.

Freezing of the St. Lawi-ence — Ice-bridges — The Winter Phe-
nomena of the St. Lawrence — Ice Packing and Piling — Grand
Movements of the Ice in the Winter — Dimensions of the River
at Quebec — Tributaries below Quebec — The Estuaiy of the
St. Lawrence — Character of the Coast — Gaspe Bay — Gaspe
Peninsula — Mount Albert — Prevailing Winds in the Estuary —
Utility of the Barometer — Currents at the Entrance of the Gulf —
Icebergs — Main Current of the St. Lawi-ence — Affected by
Winds — Ice in the Estuary and Gulf — Importance of Ice-
eignals — Value of the Thermometer — Temperature of the Waters
of the Estuary and Gulf — Dr. Kelly's Observations.

THE Eiver St. Lawrence is generally frozen between
Quebec and Montreal every winter, and when tliere
is no ice-bridge at Quebec, the communication between
the two cities is open for steamers, generally on the 24th
of April. When there is an ice-bridge opposite the great
fortress, the river is closed until the 27th of the same
month. Durmg a period of above twenty years, from 1833
to 1855, the St. Lawrence has been frozen across at or
near Quebec nuie times, without retarding the opening
of the navigation for more than three days.

The winter phenomena of the St. Lawrence are of the
grandest description ; they have been ably described by
Sir William Logan.

CHAP. XXIV. WIXTER PHENOMENA OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 51

The frosts commence about the end of November, and a
margin of ice of some strength soon forms along the shores of
the river, and around every island and projecting rock in it ;
and wherever there is still water it is immediately cased over.
The wind, acting on this glacial fringe, breaks off portions in
various parts, and these jDroceeding down the stream constitute
a moving border on the outside of the stationary one, which, as
the intensity of the cold increases, is continually augmented by
the adherence of the ice-sheets which have been coasting along
it ; and as the stationary border thus robs the moving one, this
still further outflanks the other, until in some part, the margins
from the opposite shores nearly meeting, the floating ice becomes
jammed up between them, and a night of severe frost forms a
bridge across the river. The first ice-bridge below Montreal is
usually formed at the entrance of the river into Lake St. Peter,
where the many channels into which the stream is split up
greatly assist the process.

As soon as the winter barrier is thrown across (generally
towards Christmas), it of course rapidly increases by stopping
the progress of the downward floating ice, which has by this
time assumed a character of considerable grandeur, nearly the
whole surface of the stream being covered with it ; and the
quantity is so great, that, to account for the supply, many un-
satisfied with the supposition of a marginal origin have recourse
to the hypothesis that a very large portion is formed on and
derived from the bottom of the river, where rapid currents
exist.

But, whatever its origin, it now moves in solid and extensive
fields, and wherever it meets with an obstacle in its course, the
momentum of the mass breaks up the striking part into huge
fragments that pile over one another ; or, if the obstacle be
stationary ice, the fragments are driven under it, and there
closely packed. Beneatli the constantly widening ice-barrier
mentioned, an enormous quantity is thus driven, particularly
when the barrier gains any position where the current is stronger
than usual. The augmented force with which the masses then
move, pushes and packs so much below, that the space left for
the river to flow in is greatly diminished, and the consequence
is a perceptible rise of the waters above, which, indeed, from the

E 2

52 THE LABEADOR PENIXSULA. chap. xxiv.

very first taking of the ' bridge/ gradually and slowly increases
for a considerable "way up.

By the time the ice has become stationary at the foot of
St. Mary's current, the waters of the St. Lawrence have usually
risen several feet in the harbour of Montreal ; and as the space
through which this current flows affords a deep and narrow
passage for nearly the whole body of the river, it may well be
imagined that when the packing here begins, the inundation
rapidly increases. The confined nature of this part of the chan-
nel affords a more ready resistance to the progress of the ice,
while the violence of the current brings such an abundant
supply, and packs it with so much force, that the river dammed
up by the barrier, which in many places reaches to the bottom,
attains in the harbour a height usually twenty, and sometimes
twenty-five feet above its summer level ; and it is not uncommon
between this point and the foot of the current, within the dis-
tance of a mile, to see a difference of elevation of several feet,
which undergoes many rapid changes, the waters ebbing or
flowing according to the amount of impediment they meet with
in their progress from submerged ice.

It is at this period that the grandest movements of the ice
occur. From the effect of packing and piling, and the accumu-
lation of the snows of the season, the saturation of these with
water, and the freezing of the whole into a solid body, it attains
the thickness of ten to twenty feet, and even more ; and after
it has become fixed as far as the eye can reach, a sudden rise in
the water (occasioned, no doubt, in the manner mentioned)
lifting up a wide expanse of the whole covering of the river so
high as to free and start it from the many points of rest and
resistance offered by the bottom, where it had been packed deep
enough to touch it, the vast mass is set in motion by the whole
hydraulic power of this gigantic stream. Proceeding onwards
with a truly terrific majesty, it piles up over every obstacle it
encounters ; and when forced into a narrow part of the channel,
the lateral pressure it there exerts drives the bordage up the
banks, where it sometimes accumulates to the height of forty or
fifty feet. In front of the town of Montreal, there has lately
been built a magnificent revetment wall of cut limestone to the
height of twenty-three feet above the summer level of the river.

CHAP. XXIV. THE riLIXG OF THE ICE. 53

This wall is now a great protection against the effects of the ice.
Broken by it, the ice piles on the street or terrace surmounting
it, and there stops ; but before the wall was built, the sloping
bank guided the moving mass up to those of gardens and houses
in a very dangerous manner, and many accidents used to occur.
It has been known to pile up against the side of a house, distant
more than 200 feet from the margin of the river, and there break
in at the windows of the second floor. I have seen it mount a
terrace garden twenty feet above the bank, and crossing the
garden enter one of the principal streets of the town. A few
3^ears before the erection of the revetment wall, a friend of mine,
tempted by the commercial advantages of the position, ventured
to build a large cut stone warehouse. The ground-floor was not
more than eight feet above the summer level of the river. At
the taking of the ice, the usual rise of the water of course inun-
dated the lower story, and, the whole building becoming sur-
rounded by a frozen sheet, a general expectation was entertained
that it would be prostrated by the first movement. But the
proprietor had taken a very simple and effectual precaution to
prevent this. Just before the rise of the waters he securely
laid against the sides of the building, at an angle of less than
45°, a number of stout oak logs a few feet asunder. "VMien the
movement came the sheet of ice was broken, and pushed up the
wooden inclined plane thus formed, at the tojD of which, meeting
the wall of the building, it was reflected into a vertical position,
and falling back in this manner, such an enormous rampart of
ice was in a few minutes placed in front of the warehouse as
completely shielded it from all possible danger. In some years
the ice has piled up nearly as high as the roof of this building.
Another gentleman, encouraged by the security which this ware-
house apparently enjoyed, erected one, of great strength and
equal magnitude, on the next water lot ; but he omitted to pro-
tect it in the same way. The result might have been antici-
pated. A movement of the ice occurring, the great sheet struck
the walls at right angles, and pushed over the building as if it
had been a house of cards. Both positions are now secured by
the revetment wall. Several movements of the grand order
just mentioned occur before the final setting of the ice, and each
is immediately preceded by a sudden rise of the river. Sometimes

54 THE LABEADOE PENINSULA. cuap. xxiv.

several days, and occasionally but a few hours, will intervene be-
tween them ; and it is fortunate that there is a criterion by which
the inhabitants are made aware when the ice may be considered
at rest for the season, and when it has therefore become safe
for them to cut tlieir winter roads across its rough and pinnacled
surface. This is never the case until a longitudinal opening of
some considerable extent appears in some part of St. Mary's cur-
rent. It has embarrassed many to give a satisfactory reason
why this rule, derived from the experience of the peasantry,
should be depended on. But the explanation is extremely
simple. The opening is merely an indication that a free sub-
glacial passage has been made for itself by the water, through
the continued influence of erosion and temperature, the effect
of which, where the current is strongest, has been sufficient to
wear through to the surface. The formation of this passage
shows the cessation of a supply of submerged ice, and a conse-
quent security against any further rise of the river to loosen its
covering for any further movement. The opening is thus a
true mark of safety. It lasts the whole winter, nev^er freezing
over, even when the temperature of the air reaches 30° below
zero of Fahrenheit ; and from its first appearance, the waters of
the inundation gradually subside, escaping through the channel
of which it is the index. The waters seldom or never, however,
fall so low as to attain their summer level ; but the subsidence
is sufficiently great to demonstrate clearly the prodigious extent
to which the ice has been packed, and to show that over great
occasional areas it has reached to the very bottom of the river.
For it will immediately occur to everyone, that when the mass
rests on the bottom, its height will not be diminished by the
subsidence of the water, and that, as this proceeds, the ice, ac-
cording to the thickness which it has in various parts attained,
will present various elevations after it has found a resting-place
beneath, until just so much is left supported by the stream as
is sufficient to permit its free escape. When the subsidence
has obtained its maximum, the trough of the St. Lawrence,
therefore, exhibits a glacial landscape, undulating into hills and
valleys that run in various directions ; and while some of the
principal mounds stand upon a base of 500 yards in length by
a hundred or two in breadth, they present a height of ten to

CHAP. XXIV. TRIBUTARIES OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 55

fifteen feet above the level of those points still supported in the
water.

At Quebec the St. Lawrence is 1,314 yards wide, but
the basin below the city is two miles across, and three
and three-quarters long. From this point the river goes
on increasing in size, as it swells onward towards the
Gulf, receiving many large tributaries, among which is
the famous Saugenay, 250 feet deep where it joins the
St. Lawrence.

One hundred and three miles from Quebec are the
Brandy Pots, where, in former times, merchantmen used
to congregate before proceeding to sail under convoy; and
at the Bic Island, 153 miles below Quebec, the ships of
war usually waited the coming down of the merchantmen.
Below Quebec the St. Lawrence is not frozen over, but
tlie force of the tides incessantly detaches ice from the
shores, and masses so huge are kept in continual move-
ment, that navigation is impracticable for three or four
months.

The channel on the north side of the island of Orleans
always freezes, owing to the set of the current and
the shallow devious passage for its waters. No doubt
steamers properly armed at the bow could often reach
Quebec during the winter season.

The coast of the estuary of the St. Lawrence on the
south side, from the magnificent Gaspe Bay to Cape Chat,
a distance of 117 miles, is bold, high, and destitute of
harbours, yet free fi'om danger to mariners. The moun-
tains everywhere approach the shore, which is steep and
rocky, displaying grand cliffs, often rising to a great height.

56 THE LABEADOR PEMNSULA. chap. xxiv.

and washed by the waves without an intervenmg beach.
After hea\^ rains many waterfalls, not to be seen at other
times, descend from mountain summits, and tumble into
the St. La^vrence. These features of this impracticable
coast must be carefully considered, if ever it should be
determined to establish a permanent naval station at
Gaspe Bay, and a termination to the Canadian Eailway
system, remote from the American frontier, either in the
Gaspe Bay or in the Bay of Chaleurs.

Under all circumstances, the relation of the Peninsula
of Gaspe to the Gulf and Eiver St. Lawrence is of great
importance, and the possessor of the Gaspe Harbour com-
mands the river and the sea road to Canada.

The country connecting Gaspe Bay with the settled
portion of the St. Lawrence Valley is very mountainous.
The communication by the Kempt Eoad between the
head of the Bay of Chaleurs and the Thetis Eiver in the
St. Lawrence is over a hilly country, but without any
very great obstacles, and not unfavourable for agriculture.
The Matapedia Eoad, ninety-six miles and a half in
length, connects the St. Lawrence at St. Flavien, 200 miles
below Quebec, with the Bay of Chaleurs. It passes for
a considerable extent at a short distance from or along-
Major Eobinson's projected line of railway between
Quebec and Hahfax, and is intended to supersede the
present Kempt Eoad. This new road is comparatively
level or undulating, in which the steepest grades scarcely
exceed 1 in 10. The total cost of the road is about
100,000 dollars.

The Gaspe Peninsula is distinguished by its magnificent
mountain scenery. The Notre Dame range, also called

CHAP. XXIV. THE WINDS OF THE GULF. 57

tlie Sliick-Shock Mountains, whose western extremities
come upon the St. Lawrence on the Matan Eiver, sixty
miles below Bic Island, are everywhere grand and im-
posing. The breadth of the range here is not more than
two miles, while their summits rise on an average 2,000
feet above the sea-level. The range runs near due east
and west, increasmg in width and elevation as it advances
eastward, until at the Chat Eiver, near the Cape of the
same name, it has a breadth of six miles, with peaks
rising to upwards of 3,500 feet, after which it sphts into
two ranges, running parallel to one another.

The prevaihng winds during the season of navigation
are directly up or du^ectly down the estuary, following
the course of the high lands on either side of the great
valley of the St. Lawrence. A SE. wind in the Gulf be-
comes ESE. between Anticosti and the south shore, EJSTE.
above Point des Monts, and NE. above Green Island.

The westerly winds are almost always accompanied
with fine, dry, clear, and sunny weather ; the easterly
winds are cold, wet, and foggy, and in the spring fi'e-
quently blow for several weeks in succession. As the
summer advances the westerly winds become more fre-
quent, and the SW. wind may be said to be the prevailing
summer wind in all parts of the river and gulf*

Admiral Bayfield places great reliance upon the indi-
cations of the barometer in the estuary and gulf He
draws attention to the remarkable circumstance that a
high barometer may be considered as the forerunner of
wet and foggy weather, whilst a low barometer renders it

* Bayfield.

58 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxiv.

equally probable that dry weather will ensue.* Fogs
and currents are generally considered to be the great
drawback to the navigation of the Gulf, yet, in many
instances, dangers may be avoided if due attention is
given to them.

The recent loss of the steamers North Briton and
Clyde naturally attracts attention to those causes of
shipwreck in the waters of the Gulf.f

With regard to the currents at the entrance of the
Gulf, between Cape Eay and St. Paul's Island, Admiral
Bayfield says that ' winds, both present and at a distance,
possess so powerful and irregular an action upon the set

* ' The annual Tariations of atmosplieric pressure in the Gulf of St. Law-
rence are very remarkable. From the mean of all the observations in the
" Meteorological Journal of the Naval Surveying Party," we find that the
atmospheric pressure is least in January, February, and March ; that it in-
creases slowly in April and May ; and that there is a very slight decrease in
June ; that the pressure is greatest in July, August, and September, after
which it decreases gradually through the three remaining months of the
year. A similar course has been observed on the opposite side of the con-
tinent, namely, at Sitka, and in Em-ope, at considerable mountain elevations.
At Toronto, eight hundred miles from the mouth of the St. Lawi-ence
(hat. 43° 39' 4" N., long. 6° 17' 33" W.), the atmospheric pressure is least
in May, June, and July, and greatest in September.' — Dr. W. Kelly, R.N.,
Proc. Royal Irish Academy, iii. 3.

t Captain Grange, the officer in command of the North Briton, after
relating the circumstance of her loss, says that the ship 'was at all times
imder perfect control, was not too deeply laden for safe navigation, and was
in every respect quite fit to encoimter any weather. A careful and efficient
look-out was constantly maintained, and every other precaution for the
safety of the vessel was observed. She was provided with the most ap-
proved compasses, charts, and every other description of nautical instruments.

' I can only account for the difference in the ship's actual position from
shore I calculated her to be by an extraordinary current or tide setting con-
tinuously to the northward. This cm-rent was probably caused by an
unusually high tide, which I am informed prevailed all over the continent-
at that time, and by the continuance of north-east winds. But, to whatever
cause the loss of the ship was due, it was not to any want of condition or
efficiency in any respect of the vessel, or her means and appliances.'

CHAP. XXIV. CUREEXTS IX THE GULF. 59

and strengtli of tlie currents and tides in this entrance,
that he can say nothing certain or definite about them.'
An inward current exists at the north entrance, throudi
the Straits of Belle Isle, as shown by the presence of ice-
bergs, which it transports into the Gulf every summer
against the prevailing SW. winds, sometimes carrying these
Ai'ctic travellers nearly as far as the east point of Anti-
^ costi. During NE. winds this current runs inwards, at the
rate of two knots an hour ; through the strait, how-
ever, the rate is usually much less. The course of this
current up the Gulf is determined by the north coast, as
far as Point Natashquan ; here it meets with a weak
current coming from the westward between Anticosti
and the north coast, during westerly winds. The united
streams then take a southern course, at a diminishing rate
as they become more widely spread, and finally joining
the main downward current out of the St. Lawrence, they
all pursue a SE. direction towards the main entrance of the
Gulf, between Cape Eay and the Island of St. Paul. 'It
is this current from the northward which is felt by ves-
sels crossing from off the Bird Eocks towards Anticosti,
and which, together with neglecting to allow for the local
attraction of the compass, has been the principal cause of
masters of vessels so often finding themselves unexpectedly
on the south coast. Many shipwrecks have arisen from
this cause near Cape Eouen, Gaspe, Mai Bay,' &c.*
The main current of the St. Lawrence is widely distributed
over the estuary, and there is no upward stream of the
tide all along the south coast, from Cape Gaspe to a few

* Bayfield.

60 THE LABKADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxiv.

miles below Eed Isle (Bic), in consequence of the union
of the eddy flood with the main current of the river.
The main current of the St. Lawrence is not felt on the
north shore below Point des Monts, nor, says Admiral
Bayfield, 'anywhere to the northward of a line -joining
Point des Monts and Anticosti : it is confined to the neigh-
bourhood of the south coast, which it follows in its curve
to tlie southward, running strongly past Cape Gaspe,' &c.

It is of the highest importance to know, however, that
'when south winds prevail it appears that this current,
or a branch of it, is driven over from the vicinity of the
Magdalen Piiver (Gaspe Peninsula) towards Anticosti ;
part of the stream running round the west point of that
island, sets across towards Large Island (one of the
Mingans), whence turning graduaUy down outside the
Mingan and Esquimaux Islands, and along the north coast,
it sweeps round the curve to the westward of Natashquan
point, and is turned off to the southward.'

Ice is the greatest drawback to the navigation of the
gulf in winter and the early spring months. To ships
armed against it the dangers are by no means great, for
the ice-fields are not often of great thickness in the
eastern entrance and eastern parts of the Gulf ; but acci-
dents have happened when vessels not so armed have
been beset by ice for many days together. It is a curious
fact that the Arctic current coming down Davis Straits
should find its way mto the GuLf through the narrow
Straits of Belle Isle, only nine miles and a quarter wide.
The water in it during summer time is often at the
freezmg point, and sometimes loaded with icebergs.
Admiral Bayfield states that, in the month of August, in

CHAr. XXIV. ICEBERGS IN THE GULF. 61

one year, he has seen two hundred icebergs and large
pieces of ice in the straits, while in another year durmg
the same month, not more than half a dozen were observed.

Many of the dangers arising from ice in the summer
would be very materially lessened if a series of ice signals
were adopted, and employed during the season of navi-
gation, by the keeper of the lighthouse on Belle Isle. The
maintenance of a separate post for this purpose, at a
suitable point near the entrance to the straits, would in-
volve but trifling expense, when compared with the
great interests at stake.

The unfortunate steamer Canadian was lost last sum-
mer (1861), on or about June 4, by striking against an ice-
berg or field of ice near the straits, of which warning might
have been given by signals designed for the purpose.

Constant attention to the thermometer on this coast is
of the utmost importance. The proximity of ice is often
indicated, particularly in the summer months, by this
valuable instrument. The temperature of the waters of
the gulf and estuary of the St. Lawrence is not only
influenced by the presence of ice, but is greatly dependent
upon depth and surface currents, so that, in ascertaining
the temperature of the water, tAvo or more trials should
be made at different depths. Generally, the temperature
of the surface over banks or shoals, away from the land,
is always less than where the water is deep. Near land
the water is sometimes warmer than at a distance from
it, although, on approachmg land from the centre of the
Gulf, the surface is generally colder.*

* On the Temperature of the Surface Water over the Banks and near the
Shores of the Gulf of St. Lajorence, by W. Kelly, M.D.

C2 THE LABEADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxiv.

In the estuary, there is usually a shallow upper stratum
of warm water, restmg on the great mass of cold, but
often mixed with it under the influence of winds. This
also occurs in the Gulf, where the superficial stratum is
warm, and of greater depth than in the estuary ; hence
the reduction of temperature which takes place in the
gulf after gales is not so great as in the estuary. ' In
every instance we found it warmer,' says Dr. Kelly, ' at
100 fathoms depth than at 50. AVhen, however, portions
of water, drawn from different depths, were examined by
the hydi'ometer, the specific gravity was always found to
be greater in those which came from greater depths.'

The changes of temperature in the waters of the Gulf
have no relation to the temperature of the air at the
time. Dr. KeUy found the greatest cold in the surface
water at the Straits of Belle Isle, at Mingan, at Point des
Monts, and near Bic, where the width of the current is
greatly diminished, and the cold water from below is
forced up and mingles with the warm superstratum.
The temperature of water is increased by pressure, and
some of the apparent anomahes in the temperature at
great depths in the gulf and estuary may be explained
by this fact, which, having been only recently estabhshed,
has not been apphed to explain variations in temperature
at depths when pressm^e becomes an element of import-
ance.

It also appears, from the preceding and many other
similar observations, that, in fine weather, the compara-
tively warm and fresh water of the St. La^vrence and its
numerous tributary streams floats on the surface, but
that, when the waves are agitated by any cause, it be-

CHAP. XXIV.

TEMPEEATUKE OF THE WATER.

G3

comes mingled with the constantly cold water beneath.
The temperature of the surface, therefore, depends less
upon the warmth than upon the strength of the winds.*
The change which takes place where the surface water

* On the 9th of Jiily, 1831, at noon, we -were becalmed two or three
miles to the southward of Point des Monts, and carried to the SSE. at the
rate of 1^ knot by the current. It was nearly high water by the shore,
and consequently about an hour and a half before the time when the
stream of flood ceases.

The temperature

of the air .
Dew point
Water at the surface

Fahr.

62°
61°

57°

Specific
gravity

10172

V

V

^ a fathom
5 fathoms

44°'
40°

By Six's
- Register

V

10 fathoms

38°

Therm.

>y

100 fathoms

35°

1-0275

During the night we had a very strong breeze, which, by the morning of
the 10th, had reduced the temperatiu-e of the surface water to 37°, and the
air to 44°.

On the 19th of June, 1832, Point de Monts, N. 61° E., distant seven

miles. Time of tide, half ebb.
current, 2 knots to the SSE.

Wind light from the westward. Rate of

The temperature

of the air .

Fahr.

49°

Specific
gravity

Dew point

Water at the surface

44°
44°

1-0189

})

10 fathoms

37i°

1-0232

v

20 fathoms.. .

39°

1-0246

}y

47 fathoms

33°

1-0262

)?

104 fathoms

36°

1-0275

On this last occasion, the line and attached machine remained perpen-
dicular, from which we inferred that the whole body of water moved down
the estuary in the ebb tide. At the time of the preceding observations, the
line remained perpendicular only as long as the machine was not lowered
down beyond three fathoms from the surface. At five fathoms the line
di'ew strongly out to the NNW., and still more strongly when the machine
was lowered to gi-eater depths. Hence it appeared that, in the flood tide,
only a thin superstratum of comparatively light and warm water moves
down, and that the colder and heavier water beneath is either stationary or
moving up the estuary. — Bayfield's Gulf of St. Lawrence,

64 THE L.\BKADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxiv.

becomes cooled by mixture with the cold water below,
during the prevalence of winds, or by the action of cur-
rents meeting with shoals, occasions dense fogs, which
are often very low and do not extend above forty or
fifty feet above the level of the sea, so that, although
from the deck objects at a distance of fifty yards may
be hidden, yet they may be plainly seen by a per-
son up the rigging. The high fogs whicli accompany
easterly gales extend high up into the atmosphere ; they
are not so dense as low fogs, but sometimes last for seve-
ral days in succession. It is during calms that the low
dense fogs occur, and as long as they last, the influence
of the currents described may bring vessels into dangerous
proximity to the coast.

Admkal Bayfield throws out the suggestion tliat one
of the chief causes which produce fogs in the Gulf of
St. Lawrence, may also account for the fogs on the banks
of Newfoundland.

' May not the low temperature often found over shoals
in the sea be attributed to a similar cause, and especially
the lower temperature of the water on the bank of 'New-
foundland as compare^l with the neighbouring sea ? for
the great current, wliich brings icebergs down along
the coast of Labrador from the northward, must meet
with obstruction in its course to the southward from these
banks, and the cold water, in consequence, be forced to
the surface ; and, if this be so, we may probably find a
reason for the prevalence of fogs upon these banks.'

The average depth of the great bank is forty fathoms ;
on its south-east side it slopes hke a wall rising from the
floor of the ocean at a depth exceeding 110 fathoms.

CHAP. XXIV. DEPTH OF THE GREAT BAXK. 65

On its north-west limit tlie fall is from tliirty-five to
seventy-five fathoms. The area of this great bank shghtly
exceeds that of the island of Newfoundland. It is shaped
like a trmicated triangle, with broad but not deep bays.
In it there are two main depressions, one near its northern
extremity seventy-eight fathoms deep, and another and
tlie larger one called Wliale Deep at its western end, in
which a depth of sixty-eight fathoms is found, with a
bottom of stinking mud. The general surface of the
great bank is very uniform, and composed almost entirely
of fine sand. Here and there, particularly oiT the coast
of Newfoundland, pebbles are mixed with sand, and
sometimes mud is brought up by the lead.

VOL. II.

66 THE LABKADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxv.

CHAPTEE XXV.

THE GULF OF ST. LAWEENCE.

The Gulf of St. Lawrence — Boundaries — The Bay of Chaleurs —
Perce Rock — The Bird Rocks — Kinds of Birds which breed on the
Bird Rocks — St. Paul's Island — Dangerous Character of St. Paul's
Island and the Bird Rocks — Shipwrecks in the Gulf — The Mag-
dalen Islands — Anticosti — Origin of its Name — Its Area — Timber
Resources — Rivers — Character of its Shoals — Shipwi-ecks on the
Coast — Wreckers — Soil of the Island — Peat — Trees — Fruit-bear-
ing Shrubs — Peas — Character of the Seasons — Frost — Fogs —
Harbours — Fox Bay — Extensive Peat Deposits — Saw Logs — Geo-
logical Features of Anticosti — Scenery — Provision Posts — Imjoor-
tance of Harbours on Anticosti — Value of the Island — Importance
in relation to the Fisheries of the Gulf — Importance to Canada —
The Bay of Chaleurs — Its Importance as a Port for Steamers — Salt
and Salines on Anticosti — Importance of Anticosti to Canada.

THE Gulf of St. Lawrence is bounded by the Island of
Newfoundland, the ' North Shore ' of Canada, part of
Gaspe, of New Brunswick, of Nova Scotia, and the island
of Cape Breton ; hence all the British Provinces are
especially interested in it. It communicates with the
Atlantic by three different passages, viz., 1st, towards
the north, by the Straits of Belle Isle, between Labrador
and Newfoundland ; 2nd, on the south, by the passage
between Cape Pay,* at the south-west extremity of the
latter island, and the north cape of Breton Island ; ord,

* The distance from Cape Rosier on the Gaspe peninsula to Cape Ray on
the coast of Newfoundland is 240 miles, and from Nova Scotia to Labrador
it is 318 miles.

CHAP. XXV. THE BAT OF CHALEUKS. 67

by the narrow diaiiiiel, named the Gut of Canso, that
divides Cape Breton from Nova Scotia. The names on
its coasts afford a chie to its history,* whetlier of man or
the animal hfe it sustains, or the natural features which it
displays, from the gently shelving beach to overhang-
ing cliffs a thousand feet high. It may, therefore, be
not without interest to mention some of the most im-
portant.

The magnificent Bay of Chaleurs, without rock, reef, or
shoal, so swarms with fish during the summer months
that the Micmacs have for aQ:es named it the Eck-e-tuan
Ne-ma-a-chi, or ' The Sea of Fish.' The scenery on its
coast is in keeping with the teeming hfe which breathes
in its waters. Grand wave-worn cliffs are near its
entrance, and among these the Perce Eock, 288 feet
high, is a noted object. It belongs to a range of cliffs
on the south-west side of Mai Bay, and is remarkable on
account of two large holes which have been worn tlirough
it by the waves, and through one of which a boat can
pass at high water. Mont Perce, in the rear, rises to the
height of 1,230 feet above the sea, and can be seen at
sea from a distance of forty miles, f

The Bird Eocks. — These are islands of sandstone with
perpendicular chffs on all sides, in which every ledge and
fissure is occupied by gannets. The white plumage of
these birds gives to these rocks the appearance of being
capped with snow, and renders them visible, through a
night glass, in a clear and moonhght night, from the

* See Appendix.

t The measurement and many facts given in the text are from Admiral
Bayfield's Sailing Directions for the Gulf and River St. LaiLirence.

68 THE LABRADOE PEXIXSULA, chaf. xxv.

distance of seven or eight miles. The birds whicli breed
on these rocks are gannets, puffins, three species of guille-
mots, razor-billed auks, and kilh wakes. No other breed-
ing-place on the American shore is so remarkable at once
for the number and variety of the species inhabiting it.*

St. Paul's Island. — A bold, high, and dangerous
gneissoid rock, painfully celebrated for the disastrous
shipwrecks of which it has been the cause. It is not
quite three miles long, one broad, and 450 feet high.
Vessels entering the Gulf generally make for St. Paul's
Island, and take their courses by it. It is situated be-
tween Newfoundland and the northern extremity of Cape
Breton, and directly in the route of ships saihng to and
from the Gulf.

' All the captains and masters of vessels,' says Bayfield,
' with whom I have had an opportunity of conversing upon
the subject, have expressed it as their opinion, that the
erection and maintenance of a good light at this place
would be of more benefit to the navigation than any one
that has been or could be built on the ocean route to the
St. Lawrence. All further agree that the dread of
making too free with the Bird Eocks has led to tenfold
more shipwrecks and disasters elsewhere than ever oc-
curred directly on them ; that is, the greater number of
casualties of that nature, which take place on Bryon and
Magdalen Islands, and along the western coast of New-
foundland, may be attributed to a desire on the part of
masters of vessels to stand clear of these dangerous " rocks."

' The following statement of shipwrecks, &c., between

* Dr. Bryant on tlie Birds of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

CHAP. XXV. ANTICOSTI 69

the years 1845 and 1857, was furnished by Mr. Wayght, a
gentleman who, at the time of our visit, resided on Bryon
Island, viz. : —

Ten vessels wrecked (gave tlieir names) off Bryon Island.

One vessel driven ashore, but got off in twenty-four Liours.

Two vessels abandoned at sea.

Six vessels wrecked on Magdalen Islands.

Four vessels wi'ecked on Bird Rocks.

' It is not, however, to be expected that this hst, made
from memory, contains a full catalogue of such disasters.
If we cannot presume to say to what extent such casual-
ties would be avoided by establishing a light and projjer
signals, in case of ' fog ' or snow-storms, on the ' Bird
Eocks,' their certain diminution would create not only
such a degree of confidence in the St. Lawrence navigation
as would tend to lessen the rates of insurance of both
vessels and cargoes ; but, what is of far greater conse-
quence, it would be no mean advance in the right direc-
tion towards promoting the cause of humanity.'

The Magdalen Islands, north of Prince Edward's Isle,
are inhabited by Acadians, who employ themselves in
fishing and whaling. Some of the inhabitants have lately
emigrated to Esquimaux Point on the Labrador coast,
and founded a new settlement there, which will be
described in another place.

Anticosti, first discovered by Cartier in 1534, and called
by him in his second voyage ' Assomption ; ' by the pilot,
Jean Alphonse, in 1542, 'Ascension Isle ;' by the Indians
Natiscotee, which the French transformed into Anticosti.*
This fine island, 122 miles long, 30 broad, and 270 miles

* The Natiscotee River empties itself into the Gulf on the north side of
the island.

7G THE LABEABOR PENINSULA. ciiAr. xxv.

in circumference, contains nearly 2,000,000 acres of land ;
its nearest point is about 450 miles below Quebec.

The limestone rocks on tlie coast are covered with a
thick and often impenetrable forest of dwarf spruce, with
gnarled branches so twisted and matted together, that a
man may walk for a considerable distance on their sum-
mits.* In the interior some fine timber exists, consisting
of birch and spruce and a little pine. On the authority
of Pursh the pond pine {Pimis serotina) is found on
Anticosti. This botanist visited the island in 1817. As
this pine is a southern sjDccies, its establishment on that
northern island is a singular circumstance. On the same
occasion, Pursh brought back, in the shape of dried
specimens, as weU as in the hving state, many plants
which seem pecuhar to the island.*!'

The streams which descend to the coast abound with
trout and salmon in the summer season. Seals frequent
the flat hmestone rocks in vast numbers ; mackerel in
immense shoals congregate round all parts of the island.
Bears, foxes, martens, and otters, with a few mice, complete
the hst of quadrupeds which have been observed. Neither
snakes, toads, nor frogs are known to exist on this desolate
shore. Unfortunately there are no good natm^al harbours
in Anticosti ; and owing to extensive reefs of flat hmestone
rock, extending some distance from the shore, tlie want of
anchorage, and frequency of fogs, the island is considered
very dangerous by mariners — 'but not in so great a
degree as to render reasonable the dread with which it
seems to have been occasionally regarded, and which can

* Baj'field.

f Hou. W. Sheppard on the Dislribution of tlie Conifera) in Canada.

CHAP. XXV. SHIPWRECKS AT AIS^TICOSTI. 71

only have arisen from the natural tendency to magnify
dangers of Avhich we have no precise knowledge.' *

Provision posts have been estabhshed by the Canadian
Government for the relief of crews wrecked on the island,f

* Bayfield.

t To those who have drawn conclusions unfavourable to the island fi'om
the number of wrecks which have been reported to have taken place upon
it, it is necessary to point out that the wi'ecks, which in retiu'ns appear so
formidable in the aggregate under the head of ' Anticosti,' have not occurred
at one spot, but at many spots widely separated, extending over a distance
of 320 miles, that being the circumference of the island, and consequently
the extent of coast front, not taking into accoimt the indentations caused by
bays, creeks, &c. Take the same length of coast upon any part of the main
shores of the river or gulf, and it will be found, upon proper enquiry, that
six times as many wrecks have occm-red within it each year as have for the
same period taken place upon Anticosti. From an estimate (made by the
writer of this communication) of disasters in the river and gulf of St. Law-
rence diu'ing the ten years ending November 1849, it appears that half as
many wrecks occurred upon the Manicouagan shoals as took place upon the
island in that period, and that Cape Rosier, Matane, and Green Island each
wrecked upwards of a third of the number of vessels which were stranded
during the same period upon the whole of the 320 miles of the much-libelled
coasts of Anticosti. Again, from the shelving nature of the beach at Anti-
costi, there are few instances recorded of wrecks upon the latter having been
attended with loss of life. While the fate of the crew of the Granicus
(wrecked in 1828 near Fox Bay), who in the course of a long winter died
from famine, has created in the minds of many an unreasoning dread of Anti-
costi, those greater dangers and more frequent and heavier disasters upon
the main shores of the St. Lawi-ence have been almost entirely lost sight of.
The evil reputation which still hangs over the island became attached to it
many years ago, before its coasts were thoroughly surveyed, when it was
laid down in the chart as being many miles shorter than it actually is.
Owing to this, many vessels ran upon it in places where deep water was sup-
posed to exist, and before lighthouses were placed there. Since the erection
of the latter and the late survey of its coasts, wrecks upon the island have
become less frequent. Most of those which now occur there are caused by
the neglect of using the lead in foggy weather, many of them through the
incapacity or drunkenness of masters (who, generally, are shamefully imder-
paid), and some of them through design. Of the latter cases the insurance
offices ai-e perfectly aware ; but instead of endeavouring to meet them by
preventive measures, they increase the rates of insurance, so as to cover
such losses by estimating for them in a certain proportion to the whole,
thus making the entire trade pay for the dishonest acts of the rogue, and ■
leaving the public to suffer by paying a proportionably increased price for all

Y2 THE LABEADOE TENIXSULA. chap. xxv.

and Mr. James Eicliardson, the explorer attached to the
Geological Commission of Canada, visited Anticosti in
1856, and made a cursory survey of the coast and the
interior. According to this gentleman the soil of the
island on the plains of the south side is composed of peat,
but the general vegetation of the country is supported by
a drift, composed for the most part of a calcareous clay
and a light grey or brown coloured sand. The elements
of the soil would lead to the conclusion of its being a
good one, but the opinion of most persons, guided by
the rules derived from the description of timber which
grows on it, would not be favourable, as there is almost a
complete absence, as far as his observation went, of the
hard-wood trees, supposed to be the sure indication of a
good settling country. The most abundant tree is spruce,
in size varying from eight to eighteen inches in diameter,
and from forty to eighty feet in length. On the north
coast, and in some parts of the south, it is found of good
size in the open woods, close by the beach, without any
intervening spruce of stunted growth. The stunted growth
was occasionally met with on the north side, but it is only
on the tops of chffs, and other places exposed to the
sweep of the heavy coast winds, where spruce or any

articles imported. Those masters wlao desire to lose their ships generally
select Anticosti for the pm'pose, because they can always manage to run
them ashore there without any danger to life, and without much risk of
being seen by persons on shore ; and as the provision posts are now well
supplied, there is no danger, as formerly, of their suffering from the want of
food. On the other hand, masters who know the coasts of the island well,
generally make free with their dangers, unless there happen to be a fog, in
perfect confidence and safety, and gain headway much faster than by keeping
in the centre of the channel, or along the south shore of the mainland. Three
lighthouses are now maintained in the west, east, and south-west points. —
Mr. Roche, Proc. of the Lit. and Hist, Soc. of Quebec.

CHAP. XXV. TREES AND FRUITS IN ANTICOSTI. 73

other tree on the island is stunted. In these situations
there is oftentimes a low, dense, and almost impenetrable
barrier of stunted spruce, of from ten to twenty feet
across, and rarely exceeding a hundred feet ; beyond
which prevail open woods with comparatively large
timber.

Pine was observed in the valley of the Salmon Eiver,
about four miles inland, where ten or twelve trees that
were measured gave from twelve to twenty inches in
diameter at the base, with height varjdng from sixty to
eighty feet. White and yellow birch are common in
sizes from a few inches to two feet in diameter at the
base, and from twenty to fifty feet high. Balsam fir was
seen, but it was small and not abundant. Tamarack was
hkewise small and scarce. One of his men, however,
who is a hunter on the island, informed Mr. K. he had
seen groves of this timber north from Elhs, or Gamache
Bay, of which some of the trees were three feet in dia-
meter, and over a hundred feet in height. Poplar was met
with in groves, close to the beach, on the north side of
the island.

Of fruit-bearing trees and shrubs the mountain-ash or
rowan was the largest. It was most abundant in the
interior, but appeared to be of the largest size close on
the beach, especially on the north side, where it attains
the height of forty feet, witli long extending and some-
what slender branches, covered with clusters of fruit.
The high cranberry ( Vibernum Opulus) produces a large
and juicy fruit, and is abundant. A species of goose-
berry bush of from two to three feet high is met with in
the woods, but appears to thrive best close to the shingle

74 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxv.

ont he beach, where strips of two or three yards across
and half a mile long were occasionally covered with it.
The fruit is very good, and resembles in taste the garden
berry; it is smooth and black-coloured, and about the
size of a common marble. The shrub appeared to be very
prohfic.

Eed and black currants are likewise abundant ; there
appear to be two kinds of each, in one of wliicli the berry
is smooth, resembling both in taste and appearance that
of the garden; the other rough and prickly, with a bitter
taste. Strawberries are found near the beach ; in size
and flavour they are but Httle inferior to the garden fruit ;
they are most abundant among the grass in the openings,
and their season is from the middle of July to the end of
August, Five or six other kinds of fruit-bearing plants
were observed, some of which might be found of value.
The low cranberry was seen in one or two places in some
abundance, but was less abundant than in many other
past seasons. The raspberry was rarely met with.

The most surprising part of the natural vegetation was
a species of pea, which was found on the beach, and in
open spaces in the woods. On the beach the plant, hke the
ordinary cultivated field pea, often covered spaces from a
quarter of an acre to an acre in extent ; the stem and the
leaf were large, and the pea sufficiently so to be gathered
for use. The straw when required is cut and cured for
feed for cattle and horses during the winter.

But little is yet known of the agricultural capabilities
of the island ; the only attempts at cultivation that have
been made are at Gamache Bay, South-west Point, and
Heath Point. South-west Point and Heath Point are two

CHAP. XXV. AGRICULTURE IN ANTICOSTI. 75

of the most exposed places in the island ; and Gamache
Bay, though a sheltered position, has a peat soil. The
whole three are thus unfavourable.

' On July 22,' says Mr. Eichardson, ' potatoes were
well advanced, and in healthy condition, at Gamache
Bay ; but a field under hay, consisting of timothy,
clover, and natural grass, did not show a heavy crop.
At South-west Point Mr. Pope had about three acres of
potatoes planted in rows three feet apart. He in-
formed me he expected a yield of 600 bushels, and at
the time of my arrival, on August 5, the plants were in
full blossom, and covered the ground thoroughly ; from
their appearance they seemed the finest patch of potatoes
I had ever seen. About half an acre of barley was at
the time commencing to ripen, and stood about four feet
high, with strong stalk and well-filled ear. I observed
oats in an adjoining patch ; these had been late sown,
being intended for winter feed for cattle ; their appear-
ance indicated a large yield.

' On the day of my arrival at Heath Point, August 23,
I accompanied Mr. Julyan about a mile from the hght-
house to a piece of ground composed of yeUowish-brown
loam, which he had cleared in the wood, and planted
about the middle of June with potatoes and peas. Of
the potatoes he procured a bucketful of good size and
middhng good quahty. The peas were in blossom, yet a
few pods were found to be fit for use. In this patch I
discovered three ears of bald wheat, the seed of which
had been among the peas when sown; they were just
getting into blossom, and probably would ripen ; the ear
was an average size, and the straw about three feet and a

76 THE LABRADOE PENINSULA. chap. xxv.

half high. I observed frost only once — it was on
September 18, but not sufficiently severe to do injury to
growing crops ; and I was informed by Mr. July an tliat
the lowest temperature of the previous winter was only
seven degrees of Fahrenheit below zero. On the coast,
as might be expected, the atmosphere is damper, and
the temperature from ten to fifteen degrees below tliat
of the interior, during June, July, August, and September,
and probably May and October.

' During the three months of my stay on the island, fogs
prevailed for ten days (five of which were July 31, and
the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th of August), while we were at
South-west Point ; Mr. Pope told me it was an unusual
occurrence. Frequent openings in the fog, seen towards
the land, led to the idea that it was less dense m the
interior.

' Some cattle at South-west Point, belonging to Mr.
Pope and Mr. Corbet, appeared to be in good condition,
although they had been left to provide for themselves in
the wood openings or along the shore.

'Haeboues. — Gamache or Elhs Bay, and Fox Bay,
are the only two liarbours on the island that are com-
paratively safe in all winds. The former is eight miles
and a half from West-end lighthouse, on the south side ;
the latter is fifteen miles from Heath Point liHit-

o

house, on the north side. From Cape Eagle to Cape
Hemy, across the mouth of Gamache Bay, the distance
is two miles, with a breadth of deep water of three
quarters of a mile, extending up the bay a mile and a
half, while the depth of the indentation is two miles
and a half Fox Bay is smaller, and has less depth of

CHAP. XXV. IIARBOUES OP ANTICOSTI. 77

water, than Gamaclie Bay. The distance across its mouth
is a mile and a half, mth half a mile of deep water in
the centre, extending np the bay nine-tenths of a mile ;
the whole depth of the indentation being one mile and
two-tenths.

' These two harbours occur in the same geological for-
mation, while the rock presents a very regular and com-
paratively level surface, over which a road could be
easily constructed from one harbour to the other — the
distance being 120 miles. By such means the whole
island would be brought to within a moderate distance
of a road having; a natural harbour at each end.

' It belongs to an engineer to say how far these natural
harbours might be capable of artificial improvement.
The belt of reef, about a mile wide, that hues the shore
within them, is composed of argillaceous limestones, in
nearly horizontal beds, which are diy at low water of
spring tides. Possibly one mode of improvement might
be to make excavations in the limestone to the depth
required, and to use the materials thus obtained partly
to raise the sides of the excavations high enough for
piers, and partly for the construction of breakwaters
outside. The depth of water on the reefs at spring tides
is about six feet, and the strength of the breakwater
might be made accordingly. I have been informed that
a vessel of 500 tons has been loaded with a cargo of
timber in Gamache Bay.

' During a heavy wind from the east, while I was at
Fox Bay, a schooner ran in for shelter, and appeared to
be quite safe. On account of the safeness of this
harbour, a provision post was established in it ; but

78 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxv.

since the erection of Heatli Point lighthouse, seventeen
or eighteen years ago, it has been discontinued ; not a
single house now remains, although they appear to have
been numerous at one time. I mention this particularly,
as, on all the charts I have seen, Provision Post still
remams indicated there ; and in one instance, at least, a
vessel being wrecked within sight of Heath Point, the
crew, instead of going to the lighthouse, went straight to
Fox Bay, where they confidently expected to find sheUer.
Hence several of them perished with cold and hunger
(the time being the beginning of December) before
they could reach the lighthouse at Heath Point. The
indication cannot be erased from old charts that may
be in the hands of mariners, but I am not aware what
means have been taken to make navigators acquainted
with the change.

' I do not know of any other sheltered harbours on the
island, and it appears to me that from every other
position on the coast any vessel near the shore, doAvn to
the size of a schooner, during any wind, would be im-
mediately obliged to put to sea. For small boats of from
three to ten tons burden, there are scarcely ten miles of
the coast where shelter could not be found by passing up
the small rivers at high water ; and there are many bays
that might perhaps be made safe by excavations hke
those which have been already mentioned.

' Alons the lowlands of the south coast a continuous
peat plain extends for upwards of eighty miles, with an
average breadth of two miles, giving a superficies of 160
miles, with a thickness of peat (as observed on the coast)
of from three to ten feet. This extensive peat plain — the

CHAP. XXV. GEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF AXTICOSTI. 79

largest, probably, in Canada — is about fifteen feet above
the ocean. An immense quantity of squared timber and
logs, ready cut for the saw-mill, are scattered over the
south coast, having drifted down the rivers of the main-
land, and particularly of the St. Lawrence. Some of the
squared timber may have come from wrecks.'

Mr. Eichardson calculated that if the whole of the
losjs scattered alono; the south shore of the island were
placed end to end, they would reach 140 miles, and
give about one miUion cubic feet of timber. He
concludes his report on this island with the following
paragraphs : —

The strata of Anticosti, being nearly horizontal, cannot fail to
give to the surface of the country a shape in some degree con-
forming to them. The surface will be nearly a level plain, with
only such modifications as are derived from the deeper wearing,
in a longitudinal direction, of some of the softer beds ; producing
escarpments of no great elevation, with gentle slopes from their
summits, in a direction facing the sun, that will scarcely be
perceptible. The easily disintegrating character of the rocks
forming the subsoil can scarcely fail to have permitted a great
admixture of their ruins with whatever drift may have been
brought to constitute a soil ; and it is reasonable to suppose
that the mineral character of these argillaceous limestones
must have given to those ruins a fertile character. It is pre-
cisely on such rocks, in such a condition, and with such an
altitude, that the best soils of the western peninsula of Canada
West are placed, as well as of the Grenesee county in the State of
New York. I have seen nothing in the actual soil as it exists
to induce me to suppose that, in so far as soil is considered,
Anticosti will be anything inferior to those regions ; and con-
siderations of climate only can induce the opinion that it
would in any way be inferior to them in agricultural capabilities.

The three months that I was on the island were altogether
too short a time to enable me to form any opinion upon

80 THE LABRADOR PEXINSULA. chap. xxv.

the climate of Anticosti. But, taking into view the known
fact that large bodies of water are more difficult to heat than
large surfaces of land, I should be inclined to suppose that
Anticosti would not be so cold in winter, nor so hot in summer,
as districts that are more inland and more south ; and that it
would not compare unfavourably with any part of the country
between it and Quebec, While autumn frosts would take effect
later at Anticosti, the spring would probably be a little earlier
at Quebec.

But such is the condition of the island at present that not a
yard of the soil has been turned up by a permanent settler ; and
it is the case that about a million of acres of good land, at the
very entrance from the ocean to the province, are left to lie
waste, while great expenses are incurred to carry settlers to the
most distant parts of the west. Taken in connection with the
fisheries, and the improvement in the navigation of the St.
Lawrence, it appears to me that the establishment of an agri-
cultural population in the island would not only be a profit to
the settlers themselves, but a great advantage to the province at
large.

The sceneiy in Anticosti is tame, but there are parts of
the coast where magnificent cliffs face tire sea, 300 and
400 feet high. As no point of the interior is estimated
to be more than 700 feet above the ocean, mountain
scenery does not exist, but the headlands on the north
coast are very picturesque, and, being composed of
limestone,* often present most imposing outlines. In
Fox Bay, near the east point, is the wreck of the ship
Granicus, which occurred, as already mentioned, in
November 1828, before provision posts were estabhshed.

* Lower and Middle Silm-ian, Caradoc formation. ' The Anticosti group
consisting of beds of Passage from tlie Lower to tlie LTpper Silurian, and
supposed to be synclironous with the Oneida Conglomerate, the Medina
sandstone, and the Clinton group of the New York survey, and with the
Caradoc formation of England.' — Billings, Geological Survey of Canada.

CHAP. XXV. IMPOKTANCE OF HARBOUES. 81

A well-protected harbour and town, at the west end in
Ellis Bay, would be invaluable to the fisheries of the Gulf ;
and as the north point of Anticosti is only fourteen miles
and a half from the western extremity of the Mingan
Islands, a harboiu- of call and of refuge at Fox Bay at
the eastern extremity of the island would be of great
advantac^e to the commerce of tlie Gulf as well as to the
fisheries. As a naval station Elhs Bay would command
both entrances to the river, and in fact control the entire
Gulf The corresponding station on the mainland might
be on the south at Gaspe Bay, of which Admiral Bayfield
says : ' The admirable Bay of Gaspe possesses advantages
which may hereafter render it one of the most important
places, in a maritime point of view, in these seas ; it
contains an excellent outer roadstead off Douglas Town,
a harbour at its head capable of holding a numerous fleet
in perfect safety, and a basin where the largest ships might
be hove down and refitted. On the Labrador coast,
Mingan Harbour is not more than fourteen miles from
North Point.' If Gaspe Bay should be considered
too far out of the great hue of communication by land
between Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Canada, the
magnificent Bay of Chaleurs offers every advantage wdiich
can be desired for a great inland terminus open for the
greater part of the year; about 110 miles from Pdviere
de Loup, where the Grand Trunk Eailway of Canada
terminates. The Bay of Chaleurs is twenty-five miles
wide from Cape Despau" to the celebrated Miscou Island,
and seventy-five miles deep to the entrance of the magni-
ficent river Eistigouche. Within this bay the chmate is
far superior to that of the adjacent Gulf; fogs seldom

VOL. II. G

82 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxv.

enter it ; and the navigation is by no means difficnlt.*
The scenery on the Eistigouche is superb. On the north
side of the valley, mountains rise to the height of 1,745
feet above the sea at a distance of only two or three miles
from tlie coast. On the southern or New Brunswick
shore, they reach nearly 1,000 feet. The moutli of the
Eistigouche is destined to become of great importance, as
it Hes near to the coal-field of New Brunswick ; and when
the international raikoad is constructed, one point ought
certainly to touch the head of the fine harbour of the Bay
of Chaleurs. It is a work which would easily and speedily
be accomphshed, and it would insure steam communication
between Canada and Britain for ten months in the year
at least, as there are many safe harbours and roadsteads
in difierent parts of the bay, and the largest ships of the
Hue "f may ascend ten miles up the river Eistigouche, or
nearly to Point Garde, with the assistance of buoys and a
good pilot. J

Eecent explorations prove that there is a considerable
quantity of good timber on the island fit for ship-building
and exportation. Water power is abundant, and it could
easily be manufactured on the spot. The manufacture of
salt in the extensive lagoons on part of the south shore
might be very profitably carried on by following the
methods pursued m the south of France, or in the northern
part of Eussia, where advantage is taken of the cold of

* Bayfield.

f Some fisliermen at Mingan from tlie Bay of Chaleurs told me tliat in
the summer (1861) a French man-of-war was busily engaged in taking
soundings in the Bay of Chaleurs. Her movements excited much cm-iosity
and speculation among the Canadians and Acadians of this magnificent bay.

X Admiral Bayfield.

CHAP. XXV. FISHERIES OX THE COAST. 83

winter to concentrate brines for summer evaporations.
The want of salt at Anticosti, and in the Gulf generally,
has frequently been the cause of the waste of an immense
quantity of fish. Sahnes could not only be very easily
constructed, but the high price of, and constant demand
for, this article, would insure a sale of as much as could
be manufactured. It would be poUtic for the Canadian
Government to encourage by every means in their power
the manufacture of salt from sea-water in Anticosti, where
all the conditions are favourable, and where the demand
for it is so great.

The present lessee of the island has a fine herd of
Ayrshire cattle which remain out feeding longer than
would be safe in the neighbourhood of Quebec ; and in the
spring they look in better condition than at any place on
the St. Lawrence below Quebec*

The economic materials known to exist in abundance
in the island are limited, in the present state of our
knowledge, to building stones of limestone and sandstone,
grindstones, clay for bricks, fresh water, shell marl, peat,
drift timber, and seaweed, in great abundance.

The fisheries on the coast are the same as those of
the Gulf generally, and akeady engage a large fleet of
American, Nova-Scotian, Jersey, and Canadian vessels, and
are quite sufiicient to support a large population on the
east and west extremities of the island, who would furnish
the fishermen ^vith supplies which they are compelled to
bring with them or seek in out-of-the-way ports when
more are required.

The island of Anticosti originally formed a part of

* Mr. Roclie.
G 2

8-1 THE LABRADOE PEXINSULA. chap. xxv.

the country called Labrador. In 1825 it was reannexed
to Lower Canada by an act of the Imperial Parliament.
The island was conceded, in 1680, to the Sieur Jolhet ; it
is now in the hands of a number of persons, some re-
siding in England and some in Canada. It ought to be
purchased by the Canadian Government, and a colonisation
road cut out between Ellis Bay * and Fox Bay. These

* Ellis Bay affords tlie only tolerable sheltered anchorage in the island.
Vessels whose draught is not too great for a depth of three fathoms may
safely lie there during the three finest months in summer, namely, June,
July, and August ; but they should moor with an open hawse to the south-
ward. Larger vessels, whose object is to remain for a few hours only, may
anchor farther out, and in three and a half and four fathoms, but neither the
ground nor the shelter will be found so good as farther up the bay.

The best berth is in a line between Cape Henry and the White Cliff, bearing
WSW. i W. and ENE. i E. respectively from each other, Gamache House
N. by e", and Cape Eagle between SSE. i E. and SSE. i E. The vessel
will then be in three fathoms, over muddy bottom, distant about three hun-
dred fathoms from the flats on either side, and about half a mile from those
at the head of the bay. The extremities of the reefs off Capes Henry and
Eagle will bear SW. by S. and S. ^ E. respectively ; thus leaving three and
a half points of the compass open, but in a direction from which heavy
winds are of rare occurrence, and never last long. Moreover, when they
do chance to occur, the sea is much less at the anchorage than might be ex-
pected, although very heavy in the entrance between the reefs. These
reefs are of flat limestone, and dry at low water, and as the tides only rise
from four to seven feet, the sea always breaks upon them when there is the
least swell. The reef off Cape Henry runs out nearly a mile to the south-
ward, and that of Cape Eagle nearly three-quarters of a mile to the west-
ward. The entrance between them is 600 fathoms wide, from three
fathoms to three fathoms. Extensive flats project from these reefs quite
round the bay, and do not entirely dry at low water, excepting in very low
spring tides ; but there are immense boulder-stones upon them which
always show. These flats occasion the landing to be very bad, excepting at
high water, which is the only time that supplies of good water can be ob-
tained from Gamache River.

Ellis Bay can be easily made out from sea, for Cape Henry is a bluff
point, and the land being very low at the head of the bay occasions the
opening to show distinctly. On a nearer approach Cape Eagle and White
Cliff on the east side and the houses near the head of the bay will be easily
recognised with the assistance of our chart; whilst two ridges, or hills, will
be seen far back in the country, and to the northward and eastward.

CHAP XXV. IMPORTANCE OF ANTICOSTI TO CANADA. 85

harbours slioiild be improved, and the sites of two towns
laid out. If encouragement were given to settlers, there
can be no doubt that Anticosti would rapidly become a
very important adjunct to the British Provinces, rivalling
Prince Edward's Island in importance ; * and, in the present
aspect of events, it is desirable that all the fisheries of the
Gulf should be secured to British subjects, and be preserved
and encouraged by every means that can be suggested.

The long line of breakers on either side, and the many large stones so far
from the shore ahead, will present anything but an agreeable appearance to
those who may approach this bay for the first time ; but there will be no
danger if the following directions be attended to : — In approaching the bay
from the westward, with westerly winds, run down along the outside of the
reefs off Cape Henry by the lead, and in ten fathoms, until the following
leading marks come on ; namely, the west side of "White Cliff, on with the
east side of the westernmost of two hills, far back in the country, and bearing
NE. I N., then haul up with these marks on, and they will lead you into
smooth water close under Cape Henry reef in three and a half fathoms.
Continue running on with these marks on till Gamache House bears N.
by E., then haul up for it, and anchor in the berth which I have previously
recommended. The lead should be kept going, and the reefs on either side
should not be approached nearer than three fathoms in any part imtil you
arrive at the anchorage.

In nmning for the bay from the south-eastward, with an easterly wind,
come no nearer to the west point of Cape Eagle Reef than seven fathoms,
imtil the east side of White Cliff come in with the east side of the same
hill as before ; then haul up Avith this mark on till the houses bear N. by E.,
and proceed as above directed. Take notice that the west side of White
Cliff is used for the leading mark in westerly winds, and the east side in
easterly winds, the intention being to keep the vessel in either case from
going too near the lee side of the channel. On the outside of Cape
Henry, and continuing to the west point of Anticosti, reefs extend 1^ mile
from the shore, and vessels approaching it should keep the lead going and
attend to the soundings in the cha.rt.—Baij[/ield.

* Prince Edward's Island lies wholly within the Gulf of St. Lawi-ence ; in
1857 it had a population of 71,496 souls, a revenue of 32,848/., and exported
articles to the value of 134,465/., its imports during the same period amount-
ing to 258,728/. The island is 123 miles long, 32 broad at its widest part,
and 4 at the isthmus, where two deep bays nearly meet.

86 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxvi.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE VOYAGE TO MINGAN.

A Gulf FisLing Schooner — Berths — Heads and Points —
A bright Day in the Gulf — Beautiful Effects of Mirage in the
Estuary — "Whales — The Sulphur-bottomed Whale — The Gaspe
Whale Fisheiy — The White Whale — Vast Numbers of the White
Whale in the St. La-wrence — Esquimaux Mode of capturing
the "VMiite Whale — Sharks — Why the Captain was thankful for
Sharks — Pickled Sharks — Seaweed — Beauties of the Gulf —
Landing through the Surf in a Canoe — Long Point — New Fishing
Station — Settlements on the Coast — The Great Banks — Arrive
at Mingan.

UK vessel was a topsail schooner of eiglity tons burden,
and her crew consisted of the captain, who hailed
ft'oni ISTew Carhsle, Bay of Chaleurs, three men, and a boy.
The cabin was just twelve feet square, having on each
side four sleeping-places, which in courtesy were termed
berths, but from their construction were far from being
conducive to repose. The captain pointed to these dens
with an air of pride at the extent of accommodation his
cabin afforded, saying emphatically, ' There, that berth
holds two ; so does that : if you find two too many in
them, one of you can sleep on the lockers, but I've
known two bigger men than any in your party sleep
hke rocks in them berths.'

' How did they lie ? ' said I, after having taken pos-
session of one, and found that the sloping side of the

CHAP. XXVI. BERTHS FOR TWO. 87

vessel left a small triangular space, about eight inches in
breadth, for the head, and four times that measure for
the feet.

' Lie, man — why, at full length, to be sure,' was the reply.

' Did they ? Where did they put their heads ? '

' Why, they slept heads and points, to be sure.'

'But how did the man whose liead was here keep
clear of the feet of the man whose head was there ? '

' They made a bargain, before they turned in, that they
should n't touch one another's faces with their feet.'

This evidence not being satisfactory, it was decided
that each berth should have but one tenant, and that
those who were not accommodated should establish them-
selves on the lockers, and try not to slip off when the
vessel rolled.

Our captain was a Nova-Scotian by birth, but ' raised '
on the Gulf. He had tried his hands at cod-fishing,
mackerel-fishing, whahng, and had made a trip with tlie
Yankees, saving a little money at each turn of the
wheel ; finally, ' he bought the biggest share in his
schooner, and intended coasting awhile.'

We all slept 'like rocks,' and the following morning
found us becalmed in sight of the St. John mountains.
The day was bright, cloudless, and sultry. Anticosti,
showing its terraces of most ancient fossiliferous Ume-
stones, loomed high in the south ; the Mingan coast,
wonderfuUy magnified and distorted by mirage, lay
towards the north. From morning tiU. night, masses of
seaweed floated past, as we held our own against the
feeble current, aided by fitful pufis of wind. Different
forms of mirage are very common in the estuary and

88 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. cnAr. xxvi.

Gulf; and a telescope generally enables the observer to
detect in the confused and highly distorted image of
a ship or boat, high above the horizon, as many as three,
and sometimes five, images of the object, blended together
and overlapping one another. Local changes in the
temperature of the surface water, caused by puffs of wind
bringing the cold water to the surface, and mingling it
with the warm superficial stratum arising from rivers or
proximity to land, are the chief causes of mirage. Dr.
Kelly states that, during Admiral Bayfield's survey of
the Gulf, mirages were most frequently observed at Bic,
Point de Monts, Mingan, and the Straits of Belle Isle.
Some of these displays are so striking, that a description
of one will convey a good idea of this very beautiful
phenomenon, which is often as grandly displayed in the
Gulf as in the magnificent source of the St. Lawrence,
Lake Superior.

We were off Metis on the afternoon of September 14, 1835.
There was a light easterly wind and cloudy sky ; the tem-
perature of the air 48°, the dew point 40*5°; the surface water
39-5°. The barometer 29*90° falling. Some light rain fell
two or three times during the afternoon, and we had very heavy
continuous rain after night falL

Several vessels were in sight between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., and
all presenting a variety of appearances from refraction. The
most remarkable was that in which a vessel with all sail set
at one moment looked like an immense chest, no sails or masts
being visible. On observing her for a time, the black body
seemed to separate horizontally into two parts ; and two sets of
mingled sails occuj)ied the intervening spaces, with one set of
very small sails above. The figures afterwards became more
distinct, and three images were clearly discerned.

Captain Bayfield and Mr. Bowen observed five distinct images
of another vessel, after I left the deck.

CHAP. XXVI. SULPHUE-BOTTOMED WHALE. 89

Since this paper was read,* we had an opportunity of seeing
the form of a ship changed by mirage in a way we had not
previously met with. Off Basque Island, on September 10, 1836,
at 3 P.M., two ships to the eastward seemed each to consist of
three immense columns of irregularly formed sails, with a set
of small distinct sails at the top of each column. The images
seemed not only immensely raised, but also extended hori-
zontally (a circumstance which we had not remarked in any
previous case), the space between the masts being considerable,
and each column of sails quite distinct ; the jibs were indis-
tinctly erect and inverted alternately, giving some appearance
of a combination of images, but there was no appearance of a
hull. The vessels were some miles' distance from us, probably
hull-down. The temperature of the air was 47°, water 39^
The dew point, found shortly after, when a breeze had sprung up
and the mirage had disappeared, was 37°.'

Many whales were blowing in Magpie Bay. Some of
them appeared to be monsters sixty to seventy feet in
length. The immediate presence of so many whales was
rather exciting to the captain, who began to fight his
battles over again, and tell us some whale stories. The
west end of Anticosti is particularly distinguished for the
number and size of the whales which frequent it.

Two years ago, the captain informed us that he passed
a schooner towing an immense sulphur-bottomed whale
to Mingan harbour, and that the captors were three days
before they succeeded in getting the gigantic creature into
safe quarters. When measured, it was found to be 100
feet long, and yielded 220 barrels of oil, but the whale-
men thought that they lost 120 barrels by the sharks
which were feeding on the carcase as the schooner was
towing it to Mingan harbour.

* Proc. of the Lit. and Hist. Soc. of Quebec.

90 THE LABPvADOE PENINSULA. chap. xxvi.

At Bradore, near the Straits of Belle Isle, the hump-
backed whale, or the river whale of the Americans, has
frequently been taken seventy feet in length, and pro-
duced 300 barrels of oil and thirty-seven hundredweight
of bone.*

Five different species of whales frequent the Gulf ; they
are the black whale, the humpbacked, the sulphur-
bottomed, the finner, and white whale. The whales in
the Gulf are generally from Gaspe Bay, and employ about
200 seamen in ten schooners. The value of the Gaspe
whale fishery is now estimated at 7,000/. a year. The
white whale. Beluga horealis, is really a beautiful animal.

The white whale is found from fourteen to twenty-two
feet in length. It yields from 100 to 120 gallons of oil,
which possesses the valuable property of retaining perfect
fluidity at temperatm^es below zero, and is therefore very
valuable for hghthouse purposes. Leather has been
manufactured from the skin of the white whale (erro-
neously called the white porpoise), which commands a
sale at eight shilhngs the pound. The white whale is
caught in strong fish-pounds, at and near the mouth of
the river Quelle, a tributary of the Lower St. Lawrence, at
the Isle au Coudres, and at Point de Cariole on the north
shore of the river. In the fall of the year they assemble,
and migrate in a body to their winter quarters in the
gulf or Arctic Sea. They hve from April to October in
the brackish water of the Lower St. Lawrence, and others
proceed slowly down the estuary, accustoming themselves
to the salt water. Mi\ Tetu, who has been very suc-
cessful in capturing the white whale, and in bringing its

* Notes on the Coast of Labrador,

CHAP. XXVI. SHAEKS IN THE GULF. 91

oil and leather into notice, informed me that he has seen
the St, Lawrence ' white with them ;' and he has observed
them passing towards the Gulf all day long over a space
twelve miles broad.

The white whale is common in Hudson's Bay, and
efforts have been made by the Hudson's Bay Company to
turn this curious and very interestmg animal to account.
It is also met with in Ungava Bay, and is captured by
the Esquimaux in the foUoAving simple manner. A large
dan or seal-skin hiflated with air is attached to the liar-
poon by a thong some twenty feet in length. The
moment the fish is struck, the dan is thrown overboard,
and, being dragged through the w^ater, offers so great a
resistance to the movements of the whale, that it soon
becomes exhausted, and when it emerges, it is compelled
to rest for a short time before diving again. The
Esquimaux, with lightning speed, approaches in his
kayak, and secures his prize with a thrust of the spear.*

The story of the body of a whale having been de-
voured by sharks whilst it was being towed to Mingan,
induced me to ask the captain w^hether sharks were
numerous in the Gulf ; he replied —

' Pretty numerous, and I 've cause to be thankful for it.'

'Why?'

' I was on board an American Government vessel, some
ten years ago or more ; our provisions were well-nigh out,
when one afternoon, as we were in the Gulf Stream, we
caught a shark. The doctor cut him up, and examined his
stomach, but when the men were about to throw the
pieces overboard, he said, " Just shove those pieces of meat

* Mr. McLean.

92 THE LABRADOR PENIXSULA. chap. xxvi.

into tlie empty pork-barrel ; we may want them yet. I
do n't like the looks of that sky ! " The men laughed, and
did so ; but night came, and with night a storm that drove
us far away from land, and left us helpless as a log in
the wide ocean. Our provisions gave out, and then we
lived for eighteen days on that pickled shark, which the
doctor told the men just to put into the empty pork-
barrels, because he didn't hke the looks of the sky.'

Another night and day of calm. During twenty-four
hours we made about two miles, but the beauty of the
day compensated for the weary rolling of the vessel in
the Ions: swell of the sea. Wonderful indeed were the

D

effects of mirage at Long Point and off Anticosti. The
Perroquet Islands seemed raised high in the heavens and
spread out hke tables. Fishing-boats, "svith the sails
idly flapping against the mast, assumed strange fantastic
forms continually changing. Anticosti loomed now high,
now low, now clear and well defined, again broken into
twenty parts, each of which appeai^ed to be a separate
island. But the sea was most wonderful of all ; floating
past were vast numbers of beautiful MedusiB, ' heaving
and sinking, soft and fair,' as they slowly drifted past.
Great belts of seaweed swept slowly past us, and
under the huge wide-spreading leaves many fishes were
sheltering themselves from the intense light of the sun,
whose rays beat with great force on the unruffled sea.
On the banks which He midway in the north channel
were several fishing schooners, each with three or four
boats catching cod-fish as fast as two men could pull up
the long fines.

A breeze sprang up at evening on the 20th, and at

CHAP. XXVI. THE SETTLEMENT OB^ LONG POINT. 03

iiightfall we anchored off Long Point, six miles from
Mingan harbour. As the breakers on the shore were
too heavy to admit of landing, we had to put up with a
rolhng night on board. On the following day two of the
party attempted to go on shore in a canoe. They reached
the long fringe of breakers in safety, but when they
made the attempt to dash in on the summit of a huge
wave, the stern of the canoe, caught by its crest as it broke
on the sloping beach, was pitched ten feet out of the water,
and came down again with such a terrific ' bang ' that
the steersman was almost shaken out of his senses, and
vowed never again to attempt landing with a light canoe
in a heavy sea. They retired beyond the foaming curl of
the waves, and gathered strength for a fresh attempt,
deriving small consolation from the remarks of a group
of Acadian fishermen who were on the beach betting

o

among themselves whether the canoe would be swamped,
or make the shore in safety. The strong hearts won as
the canoe, rising on a wave, was carried on to the beach,
and held by a stout hand befare the retreating wave
could carry her back again.

Lono; Point is a new settlement situated on a magnifi-
cent sandy beach, backed by fine spruce forests, which,
mth marshy intervals, extend to the St. John range a
few miles in the rear. Many old beaches show the
former altitude of the Gulf in the rear of Long Point ; and
not more than 200 yards from the shore, the hchen- and
moss-covered trees reminded us of the wonderful lichens
and mosses in the interior. There are twenty-three
houses scattered along the beach at this fishing-station,
which is due north of the Perroquet Islands, and is one

94 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxvi

of the many promising results of tlie attention which has
recently been given by the Canadian Government to the
invaluable fisheries on this part of the coast.

Seven years ago there was not a single fishery between
Natashquan and Seven Islands, and now there are 150
stations, giving employment to more than 1,500 fisher-
men. Previous to 1852, Canadian fishermen in the
Gidf and Eiver St. Lawrence suffered from the encroach-
ments of Americans, being positively driven away from
the fishing-grounds which they attempted to occupy on
the coast, because no protection was extended to them by
their own government. Since that year an armed govern-
ment schooner has been employed to protect the fisher-
men and repel invaders from the coast. The stations
are now becoming so numerous and important, and en-
gage so many men, that a couple of steamers will be
required to prevent infringement of the fishery laws on
a coast 900 miles in extent.

The want of a good harbour is a great drawback to
Long Point, but its pro:5timity to Mingan harbour, one of
the best in the Gulf, will be the means of giving value to
the timber and land on the coast ; and if encouragement
be given, permanent settlements will soon supply the
fishermen with many necessaries which they are now
compelled to bring witli them. Wild hay is found in
great quantities on the coast ; and in the rear of the first
belt of timber, although the soil is poor, there is yet so
much available manure in the form of fish offal, that
farming on a small scale might be very easily associated
with fishing operations, and a stationary population gra-
dually estabhsh themselves on the coast.

CHAP. XXVI. CHARACTER OF THE FISHERMEX. 95

We remained for one night at Long Point, enjoying
the hospitahty of ]\ir. Hamilton, of New Carlisle, Bay
of Chaleurs, who has extensive fishing estabHshments
at Long Point, the mouth of the Moisie, and at Seven
Islands. Mr. Hamilton has sixty men employed at each
of the two first-named posts. He sends his fish directly
to Spain or the Brazils, and when the ' take ' is good, and
the season for curing an average one, the profits are very
great. The fishermen are generally a quiet and industrious
race, but when under the influence of liquor, they become
exceedingly difiicult to manage, and scenes of riot and
bloodshed not unfrequently occur. The appointment
of magistrates at the different fishing-stations has been
instrumental in checking disorder and crime, but the
power to carry the law into effect is wanting. One vessel
is not sufficient to secure a proper observance of the laws
on this wild and distant coast, and many dark deeds have
been committed which will never see the light.

One suspicious circumstance occurred at Long Point
shortly after we left it, which will be noticed in a sub-
sequent chapter.

I left the canoes at Long Point to be brought after me
in a schooner, and hired a fisherman's boat to convey us and
our supplies to Mingan harbour. We set sail in the after-
noon of the 22nd, and in two hours reached the post of the
Hudson's Bay Company situated near the mouth of the
Muigan Eiver, a distance of six miles from Long Point.
We were very cordially received by Mr. Anderson, chief
factor, for whose kind attention and valuable assistance in
many different ways I am glad to have an opportunity
of recording my warm acknowledgements.

96 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxvii.

CHAPTEE XXVII.

THE NASQUAPEES, OR THE PEOPLE STANDING UPRIGHT.

Meaning of the Word NASftXJAPEE — Extent of tlieir Country —
Custom of Tattooing — Religion — Nasquapees of Ungava — Horrid
Practice of destroying aged People — Means of Subsistence —
Dress — Polygamy — Battle between the Nasquapees and Esqui-
maux in 1857 — Immense Extent of the Territory of the Nasqua-
pees — Cartwi-ight's Description — Pere Arnaud's Description —
Their Conjurors — The Evil Deity Atshem — Superstitions —
Fondness for European Articles of Dress — Character of the
Country they inhabit — Hunger — Famine among the Nasquapees
— Habits and Customs — Bows and Arrows — Nets — Hooks —
Trout — The Wagumesk — Fishing in Winter — Early Account
of the Nasquapees in a.d. 1500 — Tattooing — Pere Durocher's
Description in a.d. 1853 — Extent of the Great Cree Nation —
Cause of the Decline of the Nasquapees.

F you ask a Montagnais the meaning of the word
Nasquapee, he will tell you — ' One who does not
believe,' or ' a heathen.' Pere Arnaud, at my request,
asked Otelne and Arkaskhe, and they both said it
meant ' people standing upright.' The word is spelt
differently by different writers. In the description of the
boundaries of the ' king's domain ' by the Intendant Hoc-
quart, bearing date 1733, the word is spelt ' ISFaskupis.'
Ill Pere Laure's map, dated 1731, they are called 'Les
Cuneskapi ; ' and Mr. John McLean, who resided several
years at Ungava Bay, calls them Nascopies. I was very
particular in obtaining from the mouths of the Nasqua-
pees themselves, not only the correct pronurciation, but

10

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a.
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Cr

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CHAP, xxvii. TIIK COUNTRY OF THE XASQUAPEES. 97

also the correct spelling, as far as letters can indicate
sounds. It is not probable that the French had much
intercourse with this people ; and anY(ine Avho is familiar
with the several modes of speUing and pronouncing the
same Indian name in different places will easily be able
to account for the slight diversities in that of the Nas-
quapees. Chippeway, Ojibway, and Ojebway, mean
the same people ; so also do Esquimaux, , Esquimo, and
Husky.

The country of the Nasquapees extends from Lake
Mistassinni to the Atlantic coast of the Labrador Penin-
sula, a distance exceeding 800 miles. They occupy the
table-land, and it is only lately that they have visited the
coasts and shores of the Gulf and Eiver St. Lawrence in
considerable numbers. They make their way from the
interior, chiefly by the Manicouagan, the St. Marguerite,
the Trinity, and the Moisie rivers. In figure the Nasqua-
pees are shorter and of hghter build than the Montagnais ;
they have very dehcately formed and clean-cut features,
small hands and feet, a large and rather soft eye, inchned
towards the nose ; their hair is intensely black, coarse, and
thick, theu" teetli regular and beautifully white. They
speak a dialect of the Cree language, and can hold
communication with the Montagnais without any chffi-
culty. The men are tattooed on the cheek, generally
from the cheek-bone to the nostril on either side.
The marks which I saw consisted of slight cuts about
a line long, parallel to one another, and about a line
apart.
. The incision is made with a flint or a knife, and the

VOL. II. " H

98 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxvu.

juice of some herb, or gunpowder, is rubbed into it, so as
to make the mark permanent. Natives of the coast
informed me that the women were also often tattooed,
but I did not see any with the marks visible.

The few accounts which have been written of the
Nasquapees refer to bands of this people living many
hundred miles from one another, and therefore great
differences may exist in their habits and customs. Mr.
John McLean * describes those who hunted in that portion
of the Peninsula which is styled Ungava ; he considers
them to number 100 men capable of bearing arms, or about
500 souls in the band. In his opinion they have there the
same religious belief as the kindred tribes in other parts
of the continent. They believe in a good and bad spirit,
each of which is supposed to be served by a number of
subordinate spirits. Like the heathen Montagnais, they
believe in spirits of the air, the forest, the lake, the river,
&c., all of which are supposed to be propitiated by simple
sacrifices, requiring little or no self-denial.

Mr. McLean describes the Nasquapees of Ungava as
very averse to locomotion, many of them growing up to
man's estate without once visiting a trading port. Before
the establishment of Fort Chimo at Ungava, they were in
the habit of assembhng in the interior and delivering
their furs to an elderly man of the tribe, who proceeded
with them to the King's Posts or Esquimaux Bay (Hamil-
ton Inlet) and traded them for such articles as they
required. As with other northern Indian tribes, the Slaves
and Eabbit-skins excepted, so with the Nasquapees, the

* Notes of a Ticenty-Jive Years'' Service in the Hudson s Bay Territory, by
John McLean, 1849.

CHAP. XXVII. HABITS OF THE XASQUAPEES. 99

women are the slaves of the men. ' When they remove
from camp to camp in the winter, the women set out first,
dragging sledges loaded with their effects, and such of the
children as are incapable of walking ; meantime the men
remain in the abandoned encampment, smoking their
pipes, until they suppose the women are sufficiently far
advanced on the route to reach the new encampment ere
they overtake them.' The horrid practice still obtains
among the Nasquapees of killing their parents and re-
latives when old age leaves them incapable of exertion.
' I must,' says Mr. McLean, ' do them the justice to say,
that the parent himself expresses a wisli to depart,
otherwise the unnatural deed would probably never be
committed ; for they in genei'al treat the old people
with much care and tenderness.' When anyone dies in
the winter, the body is placed on a scaffold until
summer, when it is interred. They depend for their
subsistence almost exclusively upon the reindeer, and
if they miss these animals in their annual migrations,
they are hable to suffer all the horrors of starvation
in an almost arctic winter. The reindeer not only
supphes them with food, but from its skin they make
their clothing and tents. Their winter dress consists of a
jacket of deer-skin, worn with the hair next to the body,
and a coat of. the same material reaching to the knees,
with the hair outside. Leather breeches, leggings, and
moccasins protect the lower extremities ; and the hands
and arms are defended from the intense cold of those
regions by gloves and gauntlets, reacliuig as far as the
elbows. When in- full dress, they wear a cap richly
ornamented with the claws of the bear and tlie eagle.

H 2

100

THE LABRADOR PENINSULA.

CHAP, xxvn.

The garments of tlie women consist of a square piece of
dressed deer-sldn, fastened round the body witli a belt, and
suspended from the shoulders by means of straps, a
leather jacket, leggings, and moccasins. Polygamy is
practised, and it is not unusual for a man to marry two
sisters one after the other, or both at the same time.
Whatever is killed in huntmg or fishing is divided among

NASQUAPEE INDIANS AT THE Hl'DSUN S PAY r().-\rPANY S POST AT 5IINGAN.

the camp, the successful hunter only retaining the head
as his share.

The principle of a community of goods appears to be
estabhshed amongst them ; for whatever articles are pur-
chased from the Hudson's Bay Company or other traders
seldom remain in the hands of the original purchaser
for a longer period than two or three days.* Perhaps
the rapidity of interchanges may be greatly facilitated by

* Mr. McLean.

CHAF. xxvii. RELIGION OF TJIE NA.SCH'Al'EES. 101

the practice of gambling, so common amongst savage
Indian tribes.

The Nasquapees, like their friends and allies the Mon-
tagnais, hate the Esquimaux, whom they never fail to
attack when opportunity, offers.

The vast extent of the country hunted by the wandering
Nasquapees may be conceived when, 100 years ago, we
find this people side by side with their allies the Mon-
tagnais on the Saugenay, and 100 miles west of the Straits
of BeUe Isle, places from 800 to 900 miles apart.

Cartwright saw two Nasquapee canoes near the mouth
of Indian Tickle in 1774. He calls the Indians Nasqua-
picks ; and he not only purchased furs from them in the
same year, but he speaks of a chain of hills as Nasquapick
Eidge.* In 1771 he saw signs of I^^asquapick Indians
near Denbigh Island, and on several points of the coast
north-west of the Straits of Belle Isle. They must then
have been in the immediate neighbourhood of tlieir
enemies the Esquimaux, but Cartwright does not say that
any conflicts took place whilst he was on the cocist.

The excellent missionary Pere Arnaud visited the
Nasquapees, whose hunting-grounds lie to the north-west
of Lake Manicouagan, in 1853. The comet which was
visible in August and September of that year produced
the utmost consternation in the minds of the Indians.
They crowded round the missionary, and their questions
evidently showed that the sight was new to them.

Pere Arnaud says that the heathen Nasquapees which
he visited believe in two divinities or Manitou, one good,

* Sixteen Years on the Coast of Lahrador.

102 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap, x.vvir,

the other evil ; and that their worship appears to be
ahiiost identical with the observances of the Montagnais.
They attribute to their conjurors the power of communion
with spirits ; and, as in days long since gone by among
other tribes, these poor Indians sit round the medicine
lodge and anxiously await their revelations. One of their
feats of legerdemain the missionary describes as follows : —
' The conjurors shut themselves up in a little lodge pro-
perly arranged, with their legs crossed after the fashion of
the Chinese and Arabs. They remain for several minutes
in a pensive attitude. Soon the lodge begins to move
like a table turning, and replies by bounds and jumps
to the questions which are put to the conjuror.' The
barbarous heathen medicine men among the western
Nasquapees far surpass the civilised spirit-rappers in their
manifestations of supernatural power and communion with
the invisible world ; and they could no doubt teach them
more surprising and startling deceptions than are yet
known to any modern medicine-men.

The evil deity, Atshem, is the terror and bugbear of
the Nasquapees. They imagine that he assumes the form
of one of the most celebrated and dreadful conjurors of
olden times, or, as a frightful giant, wanders through the
forest in search of human prey. Whenever .the report
spreads in a camp that his tracks have been seen near at
hand, the poor creatures fly in consternation from the
neighbourhood, and live for weeks and even months in
continual terror.

Many of those muscular mysteries, known by the name
of ' Spiritual Rappings," ' table-turning,' and 'mesmerism,'
which have caused such excitement among the most

CHAF. xxvii. INDIAN SPmiT-KAFPlXGS. 103

civilised people, have been practised for ages by Indian
conjurors.

In common with the Montagnais, they believe in the
future spiritual existence of every material thing, and it
is no unusual occurrence to see a Nasquapee who has
been on the coast tell his beads, kiss the crucifix with
which the robe noire has supplied him, and a few minutes
after, when about to drink, first pour a small quantity of
the beverage on the fire or the earth, as an offering to
the spirit of a relative who may be on his way to the
happy hunting-grounds in the mysterious Spirit Land.*

Like all Indians who rarely come to the trading posts
of the white man, the Nasquapees are fond of European
articles of dress ; and they carry this weakness to such
an extent as to make themselves not only highly ridi-
culous, but, one would thmk, excessively uncomfortable.
In June 1859, the Nasquapees who had descended the
Moisie for the first time to see the robe noire and dis-
pose of their furs, wore, as is the custom of their tribe,
their thick black hair down to the waist, falling loosely
over their shoulders. As soon as they saw that the
fashionable mode on the coast was to wear the hair short,
some of them immediately cut their hair close with the
exception of two front locks on each side of the forehead.
One poor creature, observing the priestly tonsure on the
robe noire, forthwith procured a friend to cut his hair
in the same fashion. Their clothing of dressed caribou
skins they soon ^exchanged for coats, trousers, caps, &c.
The chief, whose dress on the week-days consisted gene-

* Mr. McLean.

104 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap, vxvii.

rally of three shirts and two pairs of trousers, sported
during tlie whole of Sunday not less than five shirts one
above the other. He perspired as if he were in a vapour-
bath, but, with true Indian stoicism, bore the incon-
veniences which his redundant garments occasioned, con-
scious that a chief of the Nasquapees ought to appear
richly dressed in the presence of white people.

The comitry inhabited by these Indians is precisely
such as would engender and foster superstitious ideas.
The rugged Atlantic slope is cut up by deep cracks or
ravines, through which swift rivers flow hke torrents ;
back from the rivers are gloomy valleys, covered with
forests in the lowest depressions, and surrounded by bare
rocks, towermg from live hmidred to two thousand feet,
and snow-clad for seven or eight months in the year.
Long fasts, arising from habitual improvidence, as well as
their dependence upon wild animals, rapidly becoming
scarce, cannot fail to weaken the intellect and destroy
that self-rehance which might be sustained under a more
regular and secure mode of life.

Famine with all its horrors is now common enough
in many parts of the Labrador Peninsida. Not a year
passes but some faU victims to it, chiefly, however, on
account of their leaving their proper hunting-grounds to
seek the robe noire or follow the fur-traders, who, from
the diminishing returns, are compelled to abandon out-
posts and concentrate their strength.

The Hudson's Bay Company had formerly several posts
in the Ungava district, all of which are now abandoned.
Even Petichikupau on the Ashwanipi, or Hamilton Eiver,
is about to be given u}). if that event has not already taken

cuAi'. XXVII. SUFFERINGS OF THE INDIANS FROM FAMIXE. 105

place. Ill their long journeys from the iiiteiior, the Indians
suffer many pri\'atioiis. In 1859 Pere Arnaud met six
families who had descended the Pentecost Eiver near
Point des Moiits, two of whom had suffered terribly from
hunger, bemg the picture of misery when they reached
the coast. One man and a child had fallen victims to
famine, and the others only escaped by the energy of the
mother and her daughter pushing their w^ay through the
woods by day and by night in search of another encamp-
ment of Indians. They were nearly exhausted when
they were seen at the end of a large lake by some
hunters, who at first took them for bear or caribou, and
hastened towards them, in expectation of a successful
hunt. When they reached the poor creatures, they
found them scarcely able to speak. Having given them
a little food, and remained with them until they had
regained sufficient strength to walk, they turned their
steps towards the deserted lodge. Arriving there, tliey
found one Indian and a child already dead, another
Indian so weak that he had not strength to move. In
four or five days they all returned together, bringing the
victims of hunger along with them for burial on the
coast.

The Nasquapees, Kke many other Indian tribes, are
gifted with a sense of smell so delicate, that they are
aware of the neighbourhood of a fire long before the smoke
can be seen. To indicate their speed and direction on a
march, they thrust a stick in the ground with a tuft of
grass at the top, pointing towards their fine of route,
and they show the rate at which they are travelling
l)y tlu? greater or less inclination of the stick. This mode

106 THE LABRADOK PENINSULA. chai-. xxvir.

of communicating intelligence to those who may follow
is universal among Indians ; but the excellent and simple
contrivance for describing the speed at which they travel
is not generally employed, as far as I am aware, by other
nations. The lodges of the Montagnais are almost always
made of birch-bark, so also are those of the western Nas-
quapees, except when the caribou are very numerous ; but
the eastern division of the tribe, those who hunt in the
neighbom^hood of Ungava, invariably make their lodges
of caribou or reindeer skins. It has been remarked in a
preceding chapter, that the caribou most common in
Labrador is the woodland species, an animal much larger
than the reindeer of the barren grounds of Norway and
Sweden. But it is clear from Cartwright's statement that
both kinds existed in his time on the Atlantic coast of
the Peninsula ; * and it is not improbable that in the
far interior, and towards Cape Wolsteinholme, the small
species may be abundant.

In 1775 this energetic hunter, fur-trader, and fisher-
man found a reindeer stag's head and horns with seventy-
two points. He measured the length of the bound of
the caribou when at full speed, and found it to be sixteen
feet on an average.

The Nasquapee arrow for killing the caribou is of
peculiar construction. The head is made of iron or copper
(formerly of bone), and consists of a piece of metal about
six inches long, beat out, pointed and barbed at one end ;
the other is let into and fastened to the shaft with sinew.
The head of the common arrow for kUling ptarmigan,

* Cartwright's Sixteen Yeats on the Coast of Labrador, vol. ii. p. 376.
October 1778.

CHAP. XXVI!. INDIAN MODES OF FISIIIXG. 107

poi-cupiue, and small birds, is very lieavy, and resembles
in every particular the Montagnais arrow. Tliey make
their nets and fishing-hnes of caribou skin, and tlieir
hooks are formed of wood and bone, or wood and
copper, or altogether from the bones of the deer, and con-
sist of two pieces about four inches long, tied together
at the middle, which, when the fish bites and the fisher-
man strikes, separate and stretch across the jaws of the
huge trout which are found in the great lakes of the
table-land. These trout, often sixty pounds in weight,
are eagerly sought after by the Indians when the deer
are scarce. They catch them under tlie ice, but it is a
weary work, requiring great patience and long endurance,
for the 'Wagumesk,' as they term them, do not bite
freely in the winter months, and they very rarely succeed
in netting them. A couple of brace of these fish taken
by a party of six during several hours' patient attention,
and many trials in different parts of the lake, is considered
a successful hunt. If they could always depend upon
taking as many during the inclement season of the year,
the chances of starvation would be greatly lessened. But
fishing in winter is attended with much severe labour and
exposure. Ice not unfrequently five or six feet thick has
to be broken through and the hole kept open, a work in
itself laborious in the absence of proper boring tools or
ice-chisels, and always discouraging when the chances
of taking fish are doubtful. They cannot, like the Ojib-
ways of Eainy Lake, rely on the free-biting and voracious
pickerel or wall-eyed pike, which can always be secured
in the country about Lake Superior.

There exists in the ' Memoirs of Sebastian Cabot ' a

108 THE LABRADOR rKXLVSULA. chap, \xvii.

curious letter from Pietro Pas-^quiligi, tlie Venetiau am-
bassador at the Court of Portugal, written in 1500, in
which reference is made to the voyage of Cortereal to the
coast of Labrador, and a description of the inhabitants
given. This description does not apj^ly to the Esqui-
maux ; but in some points it is a rude pictm^e of the
Nasquapees, especially in that feature which relates to
tattooino- the face with a row of marks.* It is written in
the exaggerated style common at that time, but its re-
ference to the inhabitants of Labrador is clearly to the
Lidians and not to Esquimaux. ' On the 8th of October,'
says he, ' there arrived in this port one of the two
caravels Avhich were last year despatched by the King of
Portugal for the discovery of lands lying in the north,
under the command of Gaspar Cortereal. He relates
that he has discovered a country situated between the
west and north-west, distant from this about two thousand
miles, and which before the present time was utterly
unknown. They ran along the coast between six hiui-
dred and seven hundred miles without arriving at its
termination.'

' They report that this land is thickly peopled, and that
the houses are built of very long beams of timber, and
covered with furs and the skins of fishes.'

They have brought hither along with them seveii of the
inhabitants, including men, women, and children ; and in the
other caravel, which is looked for every hour, they are bringing

* Sir Alexander Mackenzie, in liis ' Voyages,' when writing of the
Knisteneaux or Crees, states that '■ some of the women tattoo three perpen-
dicuLar lines, which are sometimes double : one from the centre of the chin
to that of the under lip, and one parallel on either side to tlie corner of the
mnuth.'^ — A (h-mral Hidon/ of the Fur Trade.

CHAP, xxvii. PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES IN LABRADOR. 109

fifty more. These people, in colour^ figure, stature, and ex-
pression, greatly resemble gipsies ; they are clothed with the
skins of different beasts, but chiefly of the otter, wearing the
hair outside in summer, and next to the skin in winter. These
skins, too, are not sewed together nor shaped to the body in any
fashion, but wrapped round their arms and shoulders exactly as
taken from the animals ; whilst the slight and partial covering
which they wear is formed with strong cords made of the
sinews or entrails of fishes. Their faces are punctured in the
same manner as the Indians : some have six marks, some eight,
some fewer ; they use a language of their own, but it is under-
stood by no one.

*******

They have great plenty of salmon, herring, stockfish, and
similar kinds of fish. They have also abundance of timber, and
principally of pine, fitted for the masts and yards of ships ; on
which account his serene Majesty anticipates the greatest advan-
tage from this country, both in furnishing timber for his
shipping, of which at present he stands in great need, and also
from the men who inhabit it, who appear admirably fitted to
endure labour, and will probably turn out the best slaves which
have been discovered up to this time. This arrival appeared to
me an event of which it was right to inform you ; and if, on the
arrival of the other caravel, I receive any additional information,
it shall be transmitted to you in like manner.*

Three hundred and sixty years later (1853), Pere
Durocher describes the appearance of a few Nasquapees
who had descended from the interior with a party of Mon-
tagnais, to be present at the Ilets de Jereniie during the
visitation of the Archbishop of Quebec m 1853. At the
commencement of the ceremony some Nasquapee families
were observed standing aloof and watching the Montagnais

* 3Icmoir of Sebastian Cabot, pp. 2-39, 240. Quoted by Tytler,
Northern Coasts of America and the Hudson's Bay Company s Terri-
tories. R. M. Ballautyne.

110 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxvii.

brethren taking part in the services of the church with
a lively interest. The Pere goes on to say that tliese
Nasquapees believed that the spirits of particular animals
would become hostile to them if they gave the bones to
the dogs. At certain feasts they sacrificed the flesh of
animals killed in the chase by burning it to cinders, and
in times of scarcity sang and danced to the sound of the
tambourine until they fell down with weakness, in order to
obtain a glimpse in tlieir dreams of the places where the
wild beasts congregate. When anyone is sick, they sing until
they are overcome by sleep, in the hope of seeing in their
dreams the enemy who has cast a spell over the invalid,
or that they may discover the herbs which are capable of
effecting a cure.

The description given by Pere Durocher of the super-
stitious Nasquapees of 1853, when they first came to the
coast at tlie Ilets de Jeremie, forcibly reminds one of
the Montagnais superstitions (described in Chapter XXI.)
which prevailed among that wide-spread people when
the Jesuits first visited the valley of the St. Lawrence,
and studied the manners, customs, and superstitions of its
savage inhabitants.

The Nasquapees are the most easterly division of the
great Cree nation, whose hunting-grounds from time
immemorial have extended from the Eocky Mountains to
the Atlantic coast of Labrador, a region extending from
the 51st to the 120th degree of longitude, a distance
exceeding 2,500 miles, with a mean breadth of about 600
miles, and equal to seven times the area of France, or about
1,500,000 square miles. It must have required a very long
time to people this vast waste with tribes speaking dialects

CHAP, xxvii. THE NASQUAPEES A DIVISION OP THE CREES. Ill

of the same tongue, and who were far more numerous,
powerful, and independent, 300 years ago, than they are
at the present time. That the Nasquapees were once
very numerous in the Labrador Peninsula there is every
reason to believe ; and famine (not wars, as with many
other Indian tribes) has been the cause of their decrease
in numbers. In many parts of the Peninsula the wild
animals which formerly abounded have almost disappeared,
and consequently the means of subsistence of the native
races have been withdrawn. Eabbits were once quite com-
mon on the mainland as far east and north as the Atlantic
coast of the Labrador Peninsula. The porcupine was
everywhere abundant on the Gulf coast, and reindeer
' covered the country.' The destruction of mosses, lichens,
and forests by fires has been the most potent cause in
converting Labrador into a desert.

112 THK LABRADOR PEXIXSULA. chat, xxvmi.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE PRESENT COXDITION OF THE MOXTAGNAIS INDIANS.

Assemblage of Montagnais at Mingau — An Epidemic — The
Winding-sheet — • Moutagnais Superstition — Montagnais Forti-
tude — The dying Montagnais — Death with the setting Sun —
The Mingan Graveyard — Montag-nais Inscriptions — Decline of
the Montagnais Tribes — Touching Address to the Canadian
Government — Number of Indians in the Labrador Peninsula —
Canadian Commission respecting the Condition of the Indians —
Evidence of Mr. Price, M.P.P. — Ancient Fort far in the Interior
— French Cannon — Evidence of Pere Amaud — Evidence of
Mr. Chisholm — Medicine Feast formerly kept up — Former
Capabilities of the Country to support Indians — Multitude of
Porcupine, &c. — Winter Customs of the Montagnais — The
Canadian Overseer of the Salmon Fisheries on Salmon-spearing by
Torchlight — Lands set apart for the Montagnais Tribes in the
King's Posts.

FIVE HUNDEED Montagnais had pitched their tents at
Mingan, a fortnight before we arrived, there to dispose
of their furs, the produce of the preceding winter's hunt,
and to join in the rehgious ceremonies of the Eoman
Catholic church luider the ministration of Pere Arnaud.
They had assembled from all parts of their wintering,
grounds between the St. John's Eiver and the Straits of
BeUe Isle — some coming in canoes, others in boats
purchased from the American fishermen on the coast,
others on foot. A large number had already procured
their sup]:>lies and started for the most easterly of the
Mingan Islands and different parts of the coast, in conse-

CHAP. XXVIII.

HEALTH OF THE IXDIAXS.

lis

qucnce of an epidemic wliicli had already carried off ten
victims. Others were preparing to start, and only waiting
for a favourable wind ; a few still lingered in their birch-
bark lodges, some of them being ill and unable to move.
The poor creatures seemed to be attacked with influenza,
which rapidly prostrated them.

I went with one of the clerks into the Hudson's Bay

MONTAGNAIS CAMP ON ONTl OF THE MINGAN ISLANDS.

Company's Store, where a group of Indians were assem-
bled waiting to obtain their supplies. Among them I
observed a woman, who stood aloof until the others were
served, and then repeated some words in Indian in a low
tone of voice. I found that she asked for a winding-sheet
for her husband, whose death she expected at sunset.

I followed her to the beach, and saw her husband
lyhig at the bottom of a t>oat, with two or three Indians

VOL. IL I

114 TITE LAREADOR PENIXSULA. thaf. xxviii.

near liim waiting for tlie tide. As we approached lie
turned his liead round, ]o(^ked at me, tlien at his wife,
then at the winding-sheet, whicli slie carried on her arm.
The eyes of tlie sick man rested for a few moments on
his shroud, and then turned to the setting sun. The
wife stepped into tlie boat, and, taking her place at the
feet of her husband, rolled up the cloth, and, placing it
upon her knees, sat motionless as a statue. A dog sat on
one of the seats of the boat ; every now and then he
raised his head, and howled low and long as if he were
baying at the sun.

I turned away, not wishing to intrude upon the silent
sorrows of the poor Indians ; and on looking back, when
some distance from the shore, I saw them still in the same
position, and heard again the long low howl of the appa-
rently conscious dog, bidding farewell to the sun, which
at that moment dipped below the western waves. Early
on the next morning I went to look for the boat, but it
was gone. I enquired of some Indians, who were just
returning with a seal they had shot in the harbour,
whether the man was dead ; they said, ' No, not when
they started, but he'll die to-morrow night.'

The cause of the general sickness Mr. Anderson attri-
buted to the foggy and rainy weatlier Avhich had pre-
vailed at Mingan for ten days preceding our arrival.
There is no doubt that many would recover if properly
fed and clothed, and particularly if the superstition that
death will come with the setting sun were banished from
their minds.

I went into the old grave-yard at Mingan. Many of
the crosses were follino; down, find as no care seemed t(»

CHAr. xxviri. MONTAGNAIS BURYING -GROUND. 115

be taken of it, these simple memorials of tlie Christian
Montagnais will soon perish. A new burying-ground
has been recently fenced in close to the mission church,
which is a substantial structure of wood capable of holding
300 people.

The Montagnais are quite conscious of their slow but
sure decline, as long as they remain during the spring and
summer on the coast ; but tliey find it for more easy to
procure food, and prefer to live on fish and seals, with
the certainty of being always able to avoid starvation, to
living in the woods which wide-spreading fires and the fur
trade have converted into a desert.

The following touching appeal to the Canadian Govern-
ment was written by the Montagnais of the Moisie Eiver
last year. The interpretation is literal, and was made by
Mr. Chisholm, formerly in the Hudson's Bay Company's
service, who has resided in the country of the Montagnais
for upwards of forty years : —

Can our words meet your views, we Indians ? can our words
enter into your hearts, you that govern, we who live here, we
who are horn ]iere, and consider ourselves possessors of the soil,
hy the will of the Great Creator of the Universe ? Our lands and
country now ruined, we can no more find our living ; our rivers
taken from us, and only used by strangers. Tln-ough your will,
we can only now look on the waters of the rivers passing, with-
out permission to catch a fish, we poor Indians. And now what
are your intentions towards us ? You have, no doubt, all the
means to live, though not we ; would you consider oiu' poverty,
and take compassion upon us ? We pray you to send us some
help ; our poverty does not arise from laziness and want of
energy, hut from being unable any more to procure for our-
selves and families food ; and we are all of one mind, that since
our hands and rivers afford us no more the means to live,

116 THE LABRADOE PENINSULA. chap, xxvin.

you who govern should take our present distress into your con-
sideration without loss of time, and for which we will most
gratefully ever pray.

(Signed)

DoMENiQUE, Chief.

Bartholemy.

Jerome.

Moisie :
June 30, 1861.

The testimony of those who have long had dealings
with the Montagnais will supply the answer to this
appeal. But in receiving such testimony, it must be
constantly borne in mind that the Montagnais as well as
the Nasquapees occupy an immense tract of country, and
many of their bands have long been brought under the
influence of the missionaries and the traders ; others have
only recently become Christians, and some are still heathen
— indeed, by far the greater portion of the Nasquapees
have no knowledge of the true God. Hence the statements
and opinions of different persons who speak of Indians
in localities far removed from one another will afford
descriptions which appear to differ in some material
points, but which are reconciled when the geographical
position of the tract of country occupied by the band is
borne in mind.

The following table gives a close approximation to
the number of Indians frequenting the posts of the
Honourable Hudson's Bay Company in the Labrador
Peninsula : —

CHAP. XXVIII.

INDIAN POPULATION.

117

indians of the labrador peninsula * visiting the
Hudson's bay company's post north-east of the

SAUGENAY AND RUPERT's RIVER.

Tadousac .
Chicoutimi
Lake St. John .
Isle Jeremie
Godbout .
Seven Islands .
Mingan .
Musquan-o
Natashquan
Nortli-west River
Fort Xascopie .
Eigolet .
Kibokok ,
Great Wbale River
Little Whale River
Fort George
Rupert's House
Mistassinni
Teniiskaming
Woswouaby
Pike Lake
Nitchequon
Caniapiscow

Saugenay

North shore of the Gulf

Interior of the Labrador Peninsula
Atlantic coast ....

Hudson's Bay

Interior of the Labrador Peninsula

3,910

In 1857 the commissioners appointed by the Canadian
Government 'to enquire into and report upon the best
means of securing the progress and civihsation of the
Indian tribes in Canada, and on the best mode of so
managing the Indian property as to secure its full
benefit to the Indians without impeding the settlement
of the country,' issued a number of queries to mission-
aries and others acquainted with the Indians.

These queries elicited much information respecting tlie

* Blue Book, 1857.

118 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxvni.

half-civilised or settled Indians of Upper and Lower
Canada, but produced little that was not previously-
known of the nomadic Montagnais and Nasquapee
tribes of the Great Labrador Peninsula.

Speaking of the Montagnais of the Saugenay, Mr. D. E.
Price, M.P.P., states in his evidence, that these Indians
have all embraced Christianity ; that they read and write
among themselves on bark and wood, and a few use the
pen, while some of them show a little inclination to
cultivate the soil. ' However, with the pure Indian it is
not his nature to till, and the chances are, this tribe,
which is very remarkable for having retained their purity
of native blood and savage indolence of the desert, will
never till the soil, and will gradually become extinct, if
they locate in their present hunting-ground, by epidemics,
in contact with the white man, or retreat farther back,
wdiich hitherto they never have done ; as it is a strong
principle of theirs never to encroach upon one another's
hunting-ground, and more particularly that of another
tribe.

' They have fallen off very much during the last ten
years since the Saugenay has been settled ; at lea^t three
hundred souls have died, one half nearly of starvation in
the woods, others from fever and small-pox, which
spreads like wild-fire among them when once contracted.'*

* The aiuoiint of furs traded by this tribe has averaged in value o\'er
8,500/. for the past four years, aud, for the six years preceding-, at least
5,000/. per annum. Many owe large amounts to the Company, others
less ; and some of the best himters have large amounts at their credits.

The Conipanj' here trade by ' castors,' which they change in value to
suit their own purposes, from Or/, to 2«. 6d., so that no one but the clerk
knows what he values them at ; as, for instance, one day a ' castor "

CHAP. XXVIII. EXPEDITION OF ROBERVAL. 119

Mr. Price mentions an interesting discovery made by
one of tlie missionaries, wliose name lie does not give, of
an old French fort, high up the Saugenay, or perhaps on
j\listassiuni Eiver ; the remains of an entrenchment and a
strono- stockade were visible, but Avhat was far more
interesting were two French cannon 2^ feet long, and
some tombstones much broken, by which the missionary
made out that they belonged to the sixteenth centmy at
an early date.

It is well known tliat the Sieur Eober\al, ' Lieutenant-
Greneral for the King in the countries of Canada, Saugenay,
and Hochelaga,' started on a voyage of discovery up
the Saugenay on June 5, 1543, in eight vessels havhig
on board seventy persons. The fate of this expedition is
still a mystery. May not these tombstones of the sixteentli
century, far back in the great wilderness, be the memorials
of the fate of Roberval and his companions?

Pere Arnaud, in his evidence with regard to the Mon-
tagnais tribes on the coast of the estuary and gulf of St.
Lawrence, confirms the opinion that it* is impossible to
wean them from the wild excitement of a life in the
woods. Notwitlistanding all the efforts of the missionaries,
those engaged in cultivating the soil are lessening in
number, and each year sees many of them return to their
Inmtiiig-grounds. They care for no other pursuit than
fishing and hunting ; they Hve and die on their hunting-
grounds, and seem indisposed to rise in the scale of

represents a quarter of a pound of powder, and next day one pound. The
Indian sells Lis furs for so many castors, and tlie more he gets the more value
he fancies he has obtained for his fiu's : but as the value of the castors is
changed to suit the rv.nipaiiy's purpose, the poor Indian is ' taken in '
without his heino- aware of it.

120 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxvui.

civilisation, if, as the price of their improved condition,
they are to give up their homes in tlie forests of theii*
ancestors.

Proceeding still lower down the Gulf coast, I now
introduce the valuable experience of ]\Ir. Chisholm, who
has lived for forty years in communication with the Mon-
tagnais, and for the greater part of that time was in the
service of the Hudson's Bay Company, and latterly in the
employment of the Canadian Government as overseer of
fisheries.

The Indians inhabiting the coast from the heights of the
Saugenay to the shores of Labrador are of the Montagnais
tribe ; they are an honest, hospitable, and benevolent race,
with much superstition, which can never be erased from their
minds for the want of education. There are no divisions in this
tribe. It is perfectly united in language, manners, mode of life,
customs, habits, and laws, except a slight deviation in the pro-
nunciation of some words in their lan^-uawe.

Medicine feasts were greatly kept up formerly, but the
clergy, with much perseverance, put a stop to them on the coast,
and at present such feasts are hardly known amongst them.
However, the Nasquapee tribe, being little or no ways christian-
ised, still keep up their feasts regularly, without intermission.
As to games, the only game they play, which may be considered
gambling, is dice and the game of bones .... their stakes
consisting often of valuable furs, which must be immediately
paid up. Their other games are innocent and harmless, such
as the hand-ball, club-ball, &c. No particular periodical ob-
servances are kept, except when having plenty to eat ; they are
contented, light-hearted, and happy. Their mode of living at
present creates much expense which was unknown to their
forefathers. Their country then abounded with the deer. Por-
cupine were so very numerous, that they used to find and kill
(when travelling) a daily sufficiency for their food without
searching for tliem. Beaver were also plenty, and the white
partridge seldom failed to visit our shores yearly, about the

CHAP. XXVIII. WINTER LIFE OF THE INDIANS. 121

commencement of December, even from the heights of Hudson's
Straits. While at present the deer are extremely scarce,
porcupine almost wholly extinct, beaver very rarely to be got,
and the white partridge is seen only every third and fourth year,
starvation was in those days unknown both to Montagnais and
Nasquapees, but, these eighteen years past, some annually fall
victims. At the time when the porcupine were so very nume-
rous in the forest all over the country, and even in the woods
lining the sea-shore, an Indian would then consider 50 lbs. of
flour a superfluous weight to carry with him to the woods where
he intended to pass the winter, from his certainty of finding as
many porcupine as he chose to kill, and other animals fit for
food in pj-oportion ; but at present they have to carry in as much
flour as they can, and those who penetrate far inland must
carefully economise their provisions until such time as they
reach the large lakes where fish are to be found. Another and
very serious circumstance the Indian has to contend against, is
the yearly decline of the furied animals to what they formerly
have been. With all his labours, trapping and hunting, he
seldom can pay his debt at the Company's posts, and most
often only meets part of his expenses, which are yearly on the
increase.

When leaving the coast for the interior, many families have
particular rivers to go up by, and often in a large body ; but
once a certain distance inland, the whole party break up and
disperse into bands of two and three families each to pass the
winter, and seldom see each other any more until spring ; but
before taking their final leave of each other a place is appointed
to meet, and he or they who first arrive at the prescribed
rendezvous (if having sufficient food to wait) keep about the
vicinity until the whole party collect; they then go to fetch
their canoes, wherever left when the cold sets in, and employ
themselves, some in making new canoes, others in repairing the
old ones, until such time as the ice breaks up in the large lakes,
and the waters subside in the rivers ; they then move off in a
fleet of canoes towards the sea, find generally make their
appearance at the coast about the latter end of June.

122

THE LABRADOR. PENINSULA.

ClIAP. XXVUI.

It seeins hard, and even cruel, for the Canadian
Government to lease the salmon rivers flowing into the
estuary and gulf, and to forbid by law the Indians who
were born on the soil from taking fish for their daily
food from rivers which are leased to ' white men ; ' yet
such is the almost incredible thouo-htlessness of these
people, and so great the number of fish they destroy

.vA-

A ^te^5";- '

""l^^

BUILDIXG CAXOES — SQfA^VS STITCHIXG .THE BIECH-BAEK.

wantonly or for barter at the traders' stores, that in a
few years the best salmon rivers would be ruined by
them. They are j^ermitted to spear by torchlight, under
certain conditions,* on rivers which are not under lease ;

* ' The fisliiug for, taking, or killing of any salmon or sea-trout by aid of
torcliliglat or other artificial light, and by means of spears, harpoon (uegog),
jigger-hooks, or grapnel, is hereby absolutely forbidden.

' Indians may, for their own hdtuijide use and consumption, fish for, catch,
or kill salmon and trout by such means as are next above prohibited diu'ing
the months oi May, June, and July, but only upon waters not then leased,
licensed, or reserved by the crown ; provided always, that each and every
Indian thus exempted shall be at all times forbidden to sell, barter, or give
awaj' any salmon and trout so captured or killed in the manner hereinbefore
described.

CHAP, xxviii. INDIAN METHODS OF FISHING. 1-23

but even this practice is strongly censured by the officer
charged with the duty of reporting upon the sahnon
rivers of Canada. The Montagnais say, in theii' petition,
' Through your will we can only now look on the waters
of the rivers passing, without permission to catch a fish.'
The officer says : ' That the Indians must suffer starvation
by being deprived of tlie "native liberty" to ruin our
salmon fisheries, is a very fiimsy apology on the part of
those wdio still -desire to perpetuate so flagrant an abuse.'

With the exception of some families of Nasquapees, who
have imprudently left their upland hunting-grounds, and
wandered towards the rocky coasts, where sickness soon debili-
tates and cuts off whole encampments, the Lower St. Lawrence
Lidians do not endure privations similar to many of the tribes
in Western Canada. This comparative immunity is certainly
due in great measure to the paternal solicitude exercised by the
exemplary missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church Al most
total abstinence from 'fire-water' is not the least of a bene-
ficent improvement resulting from those self-denying missions.
Were there not another salmon to be caught between Quebec
and Labrador, the extinction could not occasion to Indians one
tithe of the misery depicted by persons whose interest or pre-
judice it is to excite a sympathetic feeling favourable to the con-
tinuance of facilities for spearing.*

There are also other features in this practice contributing to
the waste and injustice which it so entails. The salmon taken
by spear are, comparatively speaking, worthless as a marketable
commodity. But, being easily taken, the captors willingly dis-
pose of them at miserable prices, and in barter for the cheapest

' The receipt, gift, purchase, sale, aud possession by any person or persons
other than Indians of any sahnon or trout which may have been speared or
taken as aforesaid, shall be punishable according- to law ; and every fish so
found or had in violation of this rule, shall become forfeited and disposable
as the law directs.'

' Keport of W. 8. A\hitcher, E^ij^.

124

THE LABRADOR PENINSULA.

CHAP. XXVIII.

kinds of goods — for rusty pork and moulded biscuits. The
wrong to the public of suffering the richest and finest fish in
Canadian waters — the precious capital of our rivers — to be
thus traded in when almost valueless, and under circumstances
that admit only of unscrupulous fishermen and dishonest traders
deriving some mean benefits thereby, is obvious. These dealers
adroitly scarify the ugly portions, disguise their ill-conditioned
bargain by dry-salting or hot pickle, and, concealing the un-
wholesome fish at the bottom of the tubs, or dispersing them
among other sound pieces, thus pawn them off upon the public.
Costing little at prime, the sale is a ready one below average
market price. If consumers were but once to see a few specimens
of unseasonable salmon struck by the spear, they would remem-
ber the loathsome sight, and, rather than venture the chances
of again eating such deleterious food, would eschew salmon
altogether.*

The following table shows the distribution of the area
of land set apart and appropriated, under the statute 14
and 15 Victoria, for the benefit of the Indian tribes within
the limits of the King's Posts, in the Saugenay county : —

No of

acres set

Description of boundaries

Name of tribe

apart

Peribouka . .

16,000

A tract five miles on

MontagTiais of Lake St.

the River Pere-

John and Tadousac.

bouka, nortli of Lake

St. John.

Metabetsliuau

4,000

The Eanges 1 A and
C, south of Lake St.
John.

Manicouagan .

70,000

On the River St. Law-

Montagnais, Tadousacs,

rence, from the Ri-

Papinachois, Mau-

ver des Vases to the

thospi, and other no-

River des Outardes,

madic tribes in the

at jNIanicouagan,

King's Posts.

about eleven miles

in breadth by ten

miles in depth.

Report of W. S. Whitcher, Esq.

1-25

CHAPTER XXIX.

A BRIEF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF
THE LABRADOR PENINSULA.

HISTORICAL NOTICE.

Origin of Name — The Cabots — Gaspar de Cortei'eal — Brest —
Its former Importance — The Ruins of Brest — Bradore Bay — Cause
of the Decline of Brest — The Count de Courtemanche — M. de
Brouagnes — The Labrador Company — Old Esquimaux Fort —
Importance with which Labrador was formerly regarded by the
French — Proposed Treaty with the Emperor Louis Napoleon —
Eetarding Influence of Seignorial Grants — Mingan — Natash-
quan — Acadian Settlers.

GEOGKAPHICAL PEATUEES.

Paucity of our Knowledge respecting the Interior of the I^abrador
Peninsula — The Moisie Gulf Watershed — The Ounaneme —
The Region drained by the St. John, the Mingan, the Ounaneme,
and the Natashquan — The Region drained by the St. Augustine

— Importance of the St. Augustine — Indian Route to Hamilton
Inlet — Migrations of Animals on the St. Augustine — Rich
Hunting-groimd — Sterility of the Coast in the neighbourhood
of the St. Augustine — Hamilton Inlet — The Ashwanipi, or
Hamilton River — The Great Falls — Description of the Ash-
wanipi below Fort Nasquapee — The Kenamou River — The
Nasquapee or North-West River — The Country North and
North- West of Hamilton Inlet — The Countiy South of the
Inlet — The Plateau between the Inlet and the Gulf of St.
Lawi'ence — The Valley of the Ashwanipi 100 miles from the Inlet

— Hudson's Bay Company's Farm at Rigolette — The Ungava Dis-
trict—South River — George's River — The Lakes of the District —
Lake Caniapuscaw — General Aspect of the Country — The Red
Spruce — The Country West of Ungava Bay — Basaltic Columns of
Henly Harbour — The Mistassinni Country — Infinite Number of
Erratics — Michaux the Botanist — His Journev acroiis the Neck

126 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxix.

of the Peninsula — Lake Mistassinni — Indian Superstitions with
respect to a Rock in Lake Mistassinni — Origin of the Name
Mistassiuni — Michaux's Description of the Mistassinni Country.

HISTORICAL NOTICE.

THE traditi(^ns respecting the origin of the name
' Labrador ' prevaihng among the residents on the
coast, many of wliom occupy the sedentary seal fisheries
of their ancestors, ascribe both tlie discovery of the
country and its name to ' Labrador,' a Basque wlialer,
from the kingdom of Navarre, wlio penetrated as far
as Labrador Bay, now called Bradore Ba}^, about tlie
middle of the fifteenth centmy. Li process of time, as
this bay was much frequented by Basque fishermen, tlie
whole coast became known by tlie name of the adven-
turous whaler who first visited it.* In 1497, Jean and
Sebastian Cabot discovered the island of Newfoundland,
and are supposed to have visited the coast of Labrador.
But it does not appear that they gave it any name. The
island of Newfoundland, which they perhaps thought
was a part of tlie mainland, they called Terre de
Boccaleos, from the abundance of cod-fish wliich sur-
rounded them.

The discovery of LalDrador is also ascribed to Gaspar
de Cortereal, who sailed along the coast for a distance of
000 miles, and on an old map published at Eome in 1508
the coast of Labrador is denominated Terra Corteralis.'l'
The Basques, the Normans, and Bretons, about the year
1500, visited the coast and carried on extensive fisheries.

* Sanil. Robertson.

t Tvtler's Northern Coasts of America, with continuation by R. 31.
Ballantvne.

rwAP. xxrx.

BRADORE BAY. 127

In 1535, wlieii Jacques Cartier discovered the Eiver St.
Lawrence, he met witli a French vessel looking for tlie
port of Brest, situated in Bradore Bay. The town of
Brest was built by the French in Bradore Bay, whicli
is about tliree miles from the present boundary of
Canada at Blanc Sablon Harbour, and at one time it
contained upwards of 1,000 permanent residents. Lewis
Eoberts, in liis ' Dictionary of Commerce,' which was
printed in London in 1600, states that ' it was the chief
town of New France, and the residence of the governor,
almoner, and otlier public officers. The French drew
from them large quantities of baccolo, whale-fins, and
train, together with castor and other valuable oils, and
the Frencli had also a fort at Tadousac solely to traffic
with the Indians for furs.' Mr. Samuel Eobertson, who
resides at Tabatiere Bay, not far from Bradore, states in
his ' Notes on the Coast of Labrador : ' ' As to the truth
of Lewis Robert's remarks, there can be no doubt, as
may be seen from the ruins and terraces of the buildings,
which were chiefly constructed of wood. I estimate that
at one time it contained 200 houses, besides stores, &c.,
and perhaps 1,000 inlialntants in the winter, which would
be trebled during' tlie summer.' Tlie ancient town of
Brest was situated within the limits of a concession made
by the French King to Le Sieur Amador Godefroy de
Saint-Paul of five leagues of coast on each side of the
North-west or Esquimaux Eiver. Among tlie objects
which the applicants stated in their petition they had in
view were, ' tlie fisliing for cod, whales, seals, porpoise,
and others.'

The cause of the decay of Brest is still involved in

128 THE LABEADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxix.

doubt. Mr. Eobertson says in the ' Notes ' before re-
ferred to : —

About the year 1600 Brest was in its greatest prosperity; its
first cause of decay was the grant en seigneurie of four leagues
of coast, on each side embracing the town, to a certain noble-
man named Courtmanche, who had married a daughter of
Henry IV. of France.* This happened about the year 1630,
and, much about the same time, the whole tribe of the Esqui-
maux, who had given the French so much annoyance, were
totally extirpated or expelled from the Griilf shores. These two
causes dispersed the fishermen to other stations, and the place
had ceased to be a town, and indeed was little more than a
private establishment, towards the close of the century, and the
name changed to Bradore.

Nevertheless, while the French held the country, it was the
centre of considerable trade, as an old Frenchman named Jean
Junot used to say that, when he came first to the country,
he saw 150 vessels rendezvoused in Bradore Bay, with five ships
of war, preparatory to their departure for France, and that this
was usually the case every year : this man spoke of the year
1 720.1 This place remained in the hands of the family of the
Courtmanches for three generations, and then came to the pos-
session of one M. De Brouagnes, one of the Council of Seven in
Quebec, who was either a nephew or a grandson of the last
Count de Courtmanche ; he held it till the conquest. After
the conquest, Bradore, and 150 miles of the coast westward,
were monopolised by a company, called the Labrador Company,
established in Quebec, who for sixty years carried on the fishery,
chiefly for seals, with success, until the last fifteen years, when
the fisheries foiled ; and finally, they were obliged to abandon
and sell out: this happened in the year 1820, since which time
this part of the coast has been gradually filling in with settlers,
whose numbers have risen from a dozen to more than 250.

* This is a mistake, according to M. Abb^ Ferland. Mons. de Com-te-
mancbe mamed tbe daughter of Etienne Charest, Seigneur de la Cote de
Lauson,

t Mr. Robertson's ' Notes on tbe Coast of Labrador ' were read before
Lit. and Hist. Soc. of Quebec in 1841.

CHAP. XXIX. FRENCH SETTLEMENTS. 129

Anterior to the grant to M. de Coiirtemanche of the Bay
of Bradore and adjacent country, concessions were made
to French companies of a tract lying to the north of
Blanc Sablon, within the Straits of Belle Isle, which
always appears, from the most distant to the most recent
times, to have been the point to which they attached
the greatest importance for fishing purposes ; and pro-
l^ably Avitli great justice, as these straits are the highway
of the vast migratory shoals of fish which come from the
Arctic seas into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and one of
the keys to this prolific land-locked sea.

Among the manuscripts relating to the history of Xew
France in the library of Parliament at Quebec, there is a
letter dated October 19, 1705, by M. de Vandreuil et de
Beauharnais, ' Sur les affidres generales de la colonic,' and
among other subjects reference is made to the ' etablisse-
ment du Sieur de Courtemanche sur la cote du Labrador.'
Also, under date August 10, 1717, is a MS. ' Memoire du
Sieur Brouagnes, second du Sieur de Courtemanche, ren-
dant au Conseil de Marine un compte exact de ce qui
s'est passe sur la cote de Labrador, pendant I'annee ; '
and under date September 9, 1718, there is a 'lettre
de Madame de Courtemanche au ministre, le remerciant
d'avoir accorde a son fils le commandement de la cote du
Labrador.' A letter on the subject of Missions to the
Labrador bears date October 22, 1720, and official
communications on the maintenance of estabUshments on
the Labrador coast in 1729. All of these facts show that
the coast of Labrador, near the Straits of Belle Isle, was
at a very early period regarded by the French with per-
haps more interest than in 1857, when the fisheries in the

VOL. IL K

130 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxix.

Straits of Belle Isle were made the subject of an article in
a contemplated treaty with the Emperor Louis Napoleon,
which created much excitement in British North America,
from Newfoundland to Lake Ontario.

The ruins of Brest must not be confounded with those
of the old Esquimaux fort some distance farther up the
straits, and which are found on Esquimaux Island, in St.
Paul's Bay. These ruins, consisting of walls composed of
stone and turf, remain almost entire to this day ; * and on
the same island are large numbers of human bones, the
relics of a great battle between the Montagnais and French
on one side and the Esquimaux on the other, which were
found about 1840.

The o-rant of the Seig;neurie of Ming^an, extendino- from
Cape Cormorant to Kegashka, to the Sieur Francois Bissot
in 1661, has been already referred to. The group of
Mingan Islands were conceded in 1677 to Messrs. Lalande
and JoUiet, for the purposes of fishing and peltry. Some
time after the conquest, the St. John's Eiver was designed
to be the eastern limit of Canada ; but by an Act passed
in the reign of George lY., the boundary was transferred
to Blanc Sablon.

As we sailed before a gentle breeze through the clustered
Mingan Islands in 1861, it suddenly occurred to me that
exactly 200 years ago, namely, in 1661, Francois Bissot
had been invested with the rights of Seigneur of IMingan.
For 200 years these rights have endured ; but the owners
are now dispersed far and Avide in both continents. Sailing
amidst these remote islands, looking so fair and beautiful

* Robertson of Span* Point.

cnAP. XXIX. EFFECTS OF SEIGNOEIAL EIGHTS. 131

as we drifted lazily along before the dying breeze, I
could not but think it both unjust and unpatriotic that
abused and misapplied seignorial rights, convepng many
miUion acres to single individuals, 200 years ago, should
now exercise a potent influence in arresting the progress
of settlement on the north shores of the Gulf, in sight of
the finest hshing-ground in the world, and including the
best parts for settlement. Yet such is even now the case ;
and many years ago many settlements would have been
estabhshed on the Labrador shores, if seignorial rio-hts
had not friglitened away hundreds who were disposed to
establish a home there,

Natashquan is one of the great resorts of the seal, in
, consequence of its gently sloping beach ; and long ago it
attracted the attention of some French Canadian and
Acadian famihes, who have recently established them-
selves there and formed a settlement on the coast. In the
rear of Natashquan, the forest timber is of fair dimensions
a few miles from the chilling salt winds of the sea. The
soil about tlie harbour is pure sand, but, Avhen manured
with fish or their oflal, yields excellent crops of potatoes
and cabbages. Wild peas and vetches groAV in abundance
a httle distance from the shore, affording natural pasturage
for cattle. Close to the sea-shore there are vast numbers
of low dunes, thrown up by the waves. If a hole is dug
in these dunes, fresh water is immediately obtained ; in
passing through sucli a body of sand, by upward filtration
probably, the whole of the salt is retained. Several small
wells, not more than fifty or sLxty feet from the highest
sea margin, always supply the people of Katashquan with
pure water. In fact, every fisherman can have his well

K 2

132 THE LABRADOE PENINSULA. chap. xxix.

before his cottage-door, facing the sea. Nothing hinders tlie
population of Xatashquan from increasing by immigration
but the fear of not being able to obtain a title to the land
which the squatter may occupy. All the settlements on
the coast have been made as yet without the consent of
the Seigneurs of Mingan, and the difficulty of procuring
that consent would be very great, as they are not only
numerous, but scattered throughout England, Canada,
and the United States. It is unquestionably the interest
of the Government of Canada to protect these httle self-
supporting colonies, to encourage the fisheries, and create
the nucleus of a navy in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. With
amazing wealth lying untouched at her feet, Canada has
expended tens of thousands in disputing the rights of the,
Hudson's Bay Company to the distant north-west, but has
not been careful to secure peaceful possession for a race
of fishermen on the shores of her own seas, which can
become, through them, sources of inestimable wealth,
and in time of trouble a secure defence.

The country fit for settlement on the immediate shore
may be said to terminate at Wapituagan ; from that point
the coast trends more to the north, and acquires an aspect
indescribably desolate, but some miles from the coast the
country is far more promising. What a vast field is
here for the revival of that encouragement to fishing
establishments and villages which existed in the time of
the French rule within the Straits of Belle Isle ! This is
scarcely the place, however, to discuss this important
question, and it may well be reserved for a distinct
chapter.

CHAP. XXIX. IXTERIOE LITTLE KNOWN. 133

GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES.

Very few explorations have been made in tlie interior
of the immense country which bears the name of the
Labrador Peninsula. The only descriptions, which I suc-
ceeded in obtaining, of attempts to penetrate it from the
different parts of the Atlantic coast, are those of the
officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, McLean, Davies,
and Erlandson. Much of the information respecting the
courses of the rivers flowing into East Maine is derived from
the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company, obtained during
their efforts to communicate with the Nasquapees of the
interior, or to find a convenient route to Fort Nasquapee
on Ashwanipi or Hamilton Eiver at Lake Petichikupau.
A large portion of the southern slope is also unknown to
the whites, the fur-traders never penetrating more than
from thirty to sixty miles, with very few exceptions, in
the rear of Seven Islands, Mingan, Natashquan, or Mus-
quarro. If such explorations have been made, no ac-
count of them appears to have been published, and the
officers of the Company with whom I conversed are not
aware of the existence of any other information respecting
the ' back country ' than that supphed by Indians or
settlers on the coast, who hunt there in the whiter and
visit the posts in the spring of the 5'ear. Mr. Chisliolm, who
was formerly in the Company's service, and has perhaps
a better knowledge of the interior than any other resident
on the coast, supplied me with a short description of
its general character east of the Moisie, which will be
found further on. The longest river tributary to the
Gulf is the Moisie, which sweeps round the spur of the

134 THE LABEADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxix.

table-land on wliicli the Ashwanipi takes its rise, and
after a course probably exceeding 250 miles, with a fall
of more than 2,200 feet, reaches the sea 18 miles east
of Seven Islands.

The direction of the Ashwanipi Eiver, forming part of
the canoe route from Seven Islands to Hamilton Inlet,
limits the area of the Gulf watershed east of the Moisie,
so that, although the body of water carried by some pf
the rivers — such as the St. John, the Mingan, the Ouna-
neme, or Eomain Eiver — is as large as the Moisie, yet
their length is not so great. Tlie Indians say that the
Ounaneme Eiver, debouching into the Gulf nine miles
west of Mingan, carries the largest body of water, and,
judging from its appearance in August last, I should be
inclined to think that the statement is correct. The
character of the country drained by the Moisie has been
already fully described. The following outhne, furnished
by Mr. Chisholm, applies to the region drained by the St.
John, the Mingan, the Ounaneme, and the Natashquan : —

The character of the country is very mountainous, even 1 00
miles back from the coast, forming ridges running and winding
in all directions ; between these ridges are glens or ravines, in
many parts thickly wooded with the fir-tree, spruce, and birch ;
in other jDarts are swamps where the larch-tree grows tall, but
to no great size in trunk, and invariably decays, and dries up,
before fully grown. Lakes, some of a very considerable size,
are innumerable. Passing this most rugged part in ascending
to the interior, the country becomes more level, thinly inter-
spersed with the black spruce-tree, resembhng plantations. The
lakes are of far greater magnitude ; many well stocked with
fish of every description, from the monstrous trout of GO lbs.
weight, to the small red sucker, and a variety of other species.
"WTiite fish are not abundant, and it is only in autumn and

CHAP. XXIX. HAMILTON INLET. I35

spring that much fish is taken in their nets (small fish, keepino-
in deep water in the winter months, swimming little about), and
the large trout ilfever meshes in our lakes, but is taken with a
hook and line, which the Indians manufacture out of the bones
of the deer.

The couriers of the Hudson's Bay Company traverse the
country between Musquarro and Hamilton Inlet two or
three times every year. The journey can be made in
fifteen days in canoes, and this route has long been a
mean of communication between Hamilton Inlet and the
Gidf. The St. Augustine forms the great canoe route of
the Montagnais through this part of tlie country ; the Me-
sickkimau or North-west Eiver, sometimes represented on
published maps as falling into Esquimaux Bay on the
Gulf, is a large tributary of Esquimaux .Bay or Hamilton
Inlet on the Atlantic, and near its hea'd-waters in the
XJngava district a numerous band of Nasquapees have
their chief winter quarters. The St. Augustine, falling
into a fine bay of the same name, has its source in the
lakes and marshes on the table-land, which also give rise
to the Kenamou which falls into Hamilton Inlet. By
this route the Montagnais can journey in their canoes
from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Hamilton Inlet in seven
days. The residents on the coast, or Labradorians as
they may well be termed, frequent the St. Augustine in
the winter and travel towards its source. Timber of fair
size is represented to be found in abundance some fifteen
miles from the sea-shore. It is on this river that the
curious migration of animals every third or fourth year is
particularly observed. The year 1857 was one of these
migratory years, and during the winter the hunters on the
lower part of the St. Augustine, fifty miles from the sea,

136 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxix.

reaped a rich harvest of otters, martens, and foxes. A
single trapper, assisted by three children, took more than
eisfhteen hmidred dollars' worth of skms durino; that
winter. In ordinary years the winter's hunt is always
remunerative on that river, the chief hunting-ground
being from forty to sixty miles from its mouth.

Some conception of the terribly sterile character of mucli
of the coast away from the great rivers and west of Cape
"Whittle, may be formed from the fact that at the Bay of
Tabatiere the missionaries found difficulty in procuring
sufficient earth to form a burying-ground. At some of
the stations bodies have been buried in clefts and crevices
of the rocks, in consequence of the impossibility of finding
sufficient soil to cover them. This absence of surface soil
is characteristic of this ]3art of tlie coast, as well as of the
sides and summits of rocky hills and of a large portion of
the central plateau.

The shores of Hamilton Inlet have already been
described, with their waU-like boundary formed by tlie
Mealy Mountains on the south side of the inlet. The
most important river draining the vast table-land of the
Peninsula falls into this bay. The Ashwanipi or Hamilton
Eiver, rising in the rear of Seven Islands, near the head-
waters of the east branch of the Moisie, is the great river
of Labrador. It is nearly a mile and a half broad at its
mouth, which is situated at the head of the inlet, and
twenty-five miles up the river its breadth varies from a
quarterof a mile to one-eighth of a mile, from Avhich dimen-
sions it does not change to any great extent as far as it
has been examined. About one hundred miles from its
mouth the great falls and rapids occur, which extend

CHAP. XXIX. THE ASHWANIPl RIVEE. 137

over twenty miles and involve fifteen portages. The
Hudson's Bay Company's barges were taken as far as the
foot of these rapids ; the remaining part of the river,
up to the now abandoned Fort Nasquapee, is tra-
versed in canoes. The river above the grand falls is
tranquil and easily navigable. In 1839, Mr. McLean
descended the Ashwanipi from Fort JSTasquapee to its
mouth. He I'eached the fort from Ungava Bay, after
enduring many hardships and privations.

After one day's rest (at Fort Nasquapee) we embarked in a
canoe sufficiently large to contain several conveniences to which
I had been for some time a stranger — a tent to shelter us by
night and tea to cheer us by day ; we fared, too, like princes, on
the produce of ' sea and land,' procured by the net and the gun.
We then proceeded gaily on our downwai'd course without meet-
ing any interruption, or experiencing aoy difficulty in finding
our way ; when one evening, the roar of a mighty cataract burst
upon our ears^ warning us that danger was at hand. We soon
reached the spot, which presented to us one of the grandest
spectacles in the world, but put an end to all hopes of success
in our enterprise.

About six miles above the falls the river suddenly contracts, from
a width of from 400 to 600 yards, to about 100 yards ; then, rush-
ing along in a continuous foaming rapid, finally contracts to a
breadth of about fifty yards, ere it precipitates itself over the rock
which forms the fall ; when, still roaring and foaming, it continues
its maddened course for about a distance of thirty miles, pent up
between walls of rock that rise sometimes to the height of 300
feet on either side. This stupendous fall exceeds in height the
falls of Niagara, but bears no comparison to that sublime object
in any other respect, being nearly hidden from view by the
abi'upt angle which the rocks form immediately beneath it. If
not seen, however, it is felt ; such is the extraordinary force with
which it tumbles into tlie abyss underneath, that we felt the
solid rock shake under our feet, as we stood 200 feet above the
gulf. A dense cloud of vapour, which can be seen at a great

]38 THE LABRADOR PENmSULA. chap. xxix.

distance in clear weather, hangs over the spot. From the fall
to the foot of the rapid, a distance of thirty miles, the zigzag
course of the river presents such sharp angles that you see
nothing of it until within a few yards of its banks.

The Kenamou Eiver, which enters Hamilton Inlet from
the south, cuts through the Mealy Mountains, thirty miles
from the coast ; it is a succession of rapids, and scarcely
admits of navigation, even by canoes. The Nasquapee or
North-west Eiver falls into the inlet on the north side,
nearly opposite the mouth of the Kenamou. The inlet is
here twelve miles across. About two miles from its
outlet the Nasquapee Eiver passes through a long narrow
lake, bordered by high mountains. It takes its source in
Lake Meshikumau (Great Lake), and the river itself,
according to Indian custom, is called by the Nasquapees
Meshikumau Shipu. There is a canoe communication
between this river and the Ashwanipi, which is shown on
two maps, constructed by Montagnais Indians, in my pos-
session. The country in the neighbourhood of Hamilton
Inlet abounds in lakes of aU sizes and shapes ; they are
all shallow, however, a feature apparently common to all
the lakes on the slopes of the table-land, according to the
observations of McLean and Davies. The lakes on the
table-land are said to be deep.

The face of the country near Hamilton Inlet, towards
the north and west, is extremely rugged and hilly. It is
composed of ranges of round-backed hills, traversing the
country in all directions, the intervals being filled with
lakes and marshes. The greater portion of this district
south of the inlet was once wooded, but fires have laid
bare the rock and burnt aAvay the mossy soil. The

CHAP. XXIX. THE VALLEY OF THE ASHWANIPI. 139

country on the north of Hamilton Inlet is thus described
by one of the Hudson's Bay Company's officers, who was
sent to explore it : —

From North-west River House, the Nasquapee Eiver is as-
cended for about sixty-five miles, when it is left at Mont a Reine
Portage. The country from. Mont a Reine Portage to Little
Seal Lake is as barren and as miserable as can be seen any-
where ; the trees all burnt, and nothing but stones and dry
stumps to be seen. On the 1st of July, 1839, the ice was still
firm on Meshikumau or Great Lake. There is no wood to
build on the shores of that extensive sheet of water ; it is only
at Grull Nest Lake that wood remains in that direction. The
borders of Nasquapee River, when the expedition ascended it in
June, were still Hned with ice, some of it ten feet thick.

To the south of Hamilton Inlet the country is more
level than on the opposite shore, and more clothed with
trees. After passing the first range of mountains on
leaving the bay, an elevated plateau is gained, which con-
tinues until the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence are
approached, when the country becomes more mountainous
and slopes rapidly to the sea- side. The breadth of the
plateau exceeds 100 miles ; it abounds in lakes, some of
large size, but so shallow that they might be termed
swamps rather than lakes. The rivers in this part of the
country are also shallow and broad. The whole of the
interior is covered with forest, though the trees are very
stunted and thin in some places ; but on approaching the
Gulf, the forest diminishes, until it disappears altogether
on the coast.

The valley of the Ashwanipi or Hamilton Ptiver, for
about 100 miles from its entrance, presents a pleasing
contrast to the barrenness of every other part of the

140 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxix.

country round the bay. It is well timbered, and some of
the trees are of large size ; intermixed with the spruce is
a considerable quantity of white bu-ch, and a few poplars
are also to be seen ; a light loamy soil is also frequently to
be found on the points of the river. There is a difference of
twenty days in favour of this valley in the spring and fall
of the year ; this difference of climate is to be attributed,
in a great degree, to its favourable aspect to the south
and west, and also in some measure to the warmth of the
water comino- from the westward.* The head of Hamilton
Inlet may be termed the garden of the Atlantic coast of
Labrador. At the Hudson's Bay Company's post Eigolette
there are about seven acres ' under crop ; ' and the farm
boasts of twelve cows, a buU, some sheep, pigs, and hens.
We are not without information respecting the north-
western portion of the great peninsula. Five years'
residence at Foi't Chimo (abandoned in 1842), on South
Eiver, Ungava Bay,f and several explorations in the
interior of the peninsula, gave Mr. McLean, the officer in
charge of the post, very favourable opportunities for
acquiring information respecting the geographical features
of a great part of the north-eastern portion of the penin-
sula. In 1842, Mr. W. H. A. Davies read a paper before
the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, entitled

* Notes on Esquimaux Bay (Hamilton Inlet) and tlie Surrounding
Country, by W. H. A. Davies, Esq. Eead before the Lit. and Hist. Soc.
of Quebec, 1842.

t Cape Chudleigb, in lat. 60° 14', long. 65° 26' W., forms tlie north-
eastern point of Ungava Bay. The Cape of Hope's Advance, lat. 61° 17',
long. 70° 20', is its western limit. The shores of this bay measure about
400 miles in circuit. The bay is free from islands, but at its entrance the
large island Akpatok occupies the western part. The shores of this bay
were laid down by the Moravian missionaries in 1811.

CHAP. xxis. CHAKACTER OF THE SCENERY. 141

'Notes on Ungava Bay and its Vicinity.' The following
information respecting this distant region is gleaned from
Mr. Davies's paper. The rivers falling into Ungava Bay
are the Koksoak or South Eiver, George's Eiver, Whale
Eiver, and a few others of minor importance. South
Eiver is the largest, and has its source in Lake Cania-
puscaw, situated on the table-land. From its source to a
small outpost established by the Hudson's Bay Company
many years ago, and called South Eiver House, a distance
of 250 miles, little is known of its course, as it has only
once been visited by the whites, and then only a part of
its valley was seen. It is rapid and turbulent, flowing
through a partially-wooded country. At South Eiver
House (now abandoned) it receives the Washquah Eiver,
which forms the route of communication between Uno:ava
Bay and Hamilton Inlet. From this point to the sea
(150 miles), the current, though strong, is less broken by
rapids ; it also widens very much, and ninety miles from
its mouth it is a mile in breadth, flowing between high
rocky banks thinly clothed with trees ; at its mouth it is
nearly a league in width. Fort Chimo is situated twenty-
eight miles from the sea. George's Eiver was discovered
by the Moravian missionaries in 1811. It was ascended
by Europeans in 1839 for the purpose of forming an
estabhshment to communicate with a band of the Nas-
quapees, whose hunting-grounds lie about its source.
For 220 miles it is a considerable stream, runnino: with a
rapid current between rocky banks, and, though full of
rapids, the water was found deep enough for the Hudson's
Bay Company's barges. At some distance from its mouth
the country is wooded ; and about 200 miles up the

142 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxix.

stream there is a large lake abounding in fisli, where the
post was estabhshed. The general course of the river is
north, running nearly parallel to the coast of Labrador,
whence it is at no time more than 100 miles distant, and
often much nearer.

The lakes on the northern watershed of Ungava Bay-
are not many or of very great size. On the plateau, or
dividing plain, the proportion of water to land is about
equal. The larger lakes are those which feed South
Eiver and its tributaries. Lake Caniapuscaw is about
seventy miles long and from fifteen to twenty broad ; the
surrounding country is hilly, especially on the western
side ; the hills are well wooded and abound in animals.
A post Avas estabhshed some years ago by the Hudson's
Bay Company on this lake, and supphed from the East
Main, Hudson's Bay. Lake Caniapuscaw occupies a cen-
tral part of the great peninsula, and is nearly equidistant
from the St. Lawrence, Ungava, and Hamilton Lilets,
being about 350 miles from each of those places. It is a
notable feature that this large lake, surrounded by well-
wooded hills, should occupy nearly the centre of the
Labrador Peninsula. To the vast chain of lakes occu-
pying the table-land, beginning with the Ashwanipi, and
finding their outlet through the Hamilton Eiver into the
North Atlantic, reference has already been made in pre-
vious chapters. With regard to the general aspect of the
country drained by the rivers tributary to Ungava Bay,
Mr. Davies informs us* that bleak and barren rocks are

* Notes on Ungava Bay and its Vicinity^ by W. H. A. Davies, Esq.,
1842.

CHAP. XXIX. UNGAVA BAY. 143

the distinguisliing features of the sea-coast, except at the
mouths of the rivers, where small stunted trees are to be
met with. To the westward of South Eiver even these
disappear, and the coast is entirely bare. The general
appearance of the country surrounding the bottom of the
bay, as seen from the sea, is rather hilly than mountainous ;
and though it has a very rough and rugged appearance,
it yet presents a favourable contrast to the shores of
Hudson's Straits, or the coast along the eastern side of
Cape Chudleigh, where nothing but high naked rocks
and mountains are to be seen.

As the rivers are ascended, the aspect of the country
rather improves, especially near the banks, where the
timber in sheltered situations attains a good size. But on
leavmg the streams the scene changes rapidly ; the trees
diminish in number and size, and become more stunted
until naked plains are reached, stretching out to the
borders of another river or lake where trees are again
found. This description of country continues for a dis-
tance of 150 miles from the sea-coast, where it becomes
less hiUy and rugged, and better wooded, and continues
so for about 200 miles further to the borders of Lake
Petichikupau. From this lake continuing south, this com-
paratively favourable country is found, but on leaving the
lake and proceeding eastward, towards Hamilton Inlet,
the country becomes very mountainous and -exceedingly
barren. Li the valleys between the rocky ridges, the
ground is invariably marshy ; so that travelhng in the
summer season, except along the lines of the rivers, is
quite impracticable.

144 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxix.

On removing the layer of moss (says Mr. Davies) that
everywhere covers the country, a pure bright siliceous sand is
met with in the woods, slightly blackened by decaying leaves
and other vegetable substances. It is in this soil, if soil it can
be called, that the red spruce or juniper pushes its roots. In
sheltered situations it attains to the, comparatively speaking,
large size of twelve to fifteen inches in diameter ; but its general
size, on the borders of rivers, is from four to six inches in dia-
meter, decreasing from that to a small scraggy bush, as the
plains are approached.

Underneath the sand, at a depth varying from a foot
to a few inches, is invariably found the rock, and the
whole Ungava country may be described as a series of
marshes, separated by rocky ridges, rising into hills in
some places, and thinly clothed at intervals with small
red spruce.

From Mr. McLean, the officer in charge of Fort Chimo,
who appears to have supplied Mr. Davies with mucli
of his information, we gather that the country drained by
the Nasquapee or North-west Paver, called also the
Eiviere des Esquimaux, which flows into Hamilton Inlet,
is equally rocky and destitute of trees, except a few
clumps of pine, spruce, and stunted birch. Some fifty
miles from Hamilton Inlet on the course of North-west
Eiver, Mr. McLean states that the surface is so undulating
as to resemble the ocean when agitated by a storm, sup-
posing its billows transformed into solid rock. Mr.
McLean describes the west coast of Ungava Bay as almost
inaccessible from the continual presence of ice and the
force of the currents which sweep violently along the
shore and among the small islands. The interior of the

cifAP. XXIX. BASALTIC COLUMNS OF HENLEY HARBOUR. 14.5

country wears a dreary and most repelling aspect; not a
tree, or shrub, or plant of any kind, except the eternal
lichens, are to be seen, with the occasional exception of a
few willows in the depressions. The soil of the Ungava
district, wherever a soil is to be found, consists of decayed
lichens, which form a substance resembling the peat-moss
of tlie Scottish moors. In the Ioav grounds, and on the
banks of rivers, the soil is generally deep and fertile
enough to produce timber of considerable size. In the
valleys are found clumps of wood which become more
and more stunted as they creep up the sides of the sterile
hills, till at length they degenerate into lowly shrubs.
The woods b(3rdering on the sea-coast consist entirely of
larch, which also predominates in the interior, intermixed
Avith pine and a few poplars and birches. In favourable
seasons the country is covered with many varieties of
berry-bearing shrubs — blue-berry, cranberry, gooseberry,
red currant, strawberry j raspberry, ground raspberry (Ru-
has arcticus), and the bake-apple {Ruhus Chamoemorus),
called chicote by the Montagnais and French. This fruit
is eaten not only by men, but also greedily by dogs and
bears.

Among the singular natural featin^es of the Labrador
coast, the basaltic colunnis of Henley Harbour in the
Straits of Belle Isle claim special notice ; they were
accurately described by Lieutenant Baddely, in 1829.

Upon entering the harbom-* it has something- the appearance
of a fortification. The upper portion consists of a mass of amor-

* lAeuteiiant Baddely. Trans. Lit. and Tfist. Sue. of Quebec, 1820.
VOL. H. L

146 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxix.

phous basalt, fifty feet thick, 990 feet long, and 210 feet wide
in its broadest part, which is in the centre. The mass is sup-
ported by an aggregation of basaltic columns, the greatest height
of which is twenty-five feet. The smallest periphery to any one
of these is two feet, and the largest seven feet six inches. The
position of the columns is vertical or nearly so, and in close
contact to one another. They are jointed at every foot or one
foot six inches. They vary in the number of sides. Captain
Campbell saw them of five, six, seven, and eight sides ; one he
measured was an irregular pentagon of six feet six inches in
periphery ; another he brought home has eight sides (the smallest
may perhaps be esteemed only a truncation), and it is remark-
able for possessing the process described by McCulloch. The
base of these pillars is 180 feet above the water. Total height
to the siunmit of the amorphous basalt, 255 feet above the sea.
This fijrmation extends to another island to the westward, called
Saddle Island, 120 yards from Castle Reef Rock, as the basaltic
precipice is termed. On Saddle Island there are three caves on
the side towards the sea ; the deepest cavern penetrates sixty
feet, and is forty-five feet broad in the middle. The flooi's are
strewn with fragments of columns, and the sides ornamented
by those which their removal exposed to view. The ceiling is
smootli and black. The strike of this formation is from east to
west ; it probably extends a very considerable distance inland.

The v/liole of the great table-land from the Mistassinni
River to the Atlantic, including the Ungava district,
appears to be strewn with erratics in infinite numbers.
The description of the Mistassinni country by the dis-
tinguished botanist Michaux shows that it is in all
respects similar to what I saw at the edge of the table-
land on the east branch of the Moisie.

It has been already stated in a preceding chapter that
the first Europeans who succeeded in crossing the neck
of the Peninsula between the St. Lawrence and Hudson's

ciiAr. x.Mv. LAKE MISTASSINNI. UY

Bay were the Jesuit Father Albanel and his companions
in 1672. One hundred and twenty years later Andre
Michaux followed the track of Father Albanel, ascending
the Saugenay to Lake St. John (lat. 48° 23' and 48° 42' N.
and long. 71° 29' and 73° 9' W.). Leaving Lake St.
John, he ascended the Mistassinni Eiver, or Eiviere des
Sables, 150 miles long, and navigable for canoes to a dis-
tance of 120 miles from its mouth. Here he met with a
cascade 80 feet in height ; and from the summit of the
hills near the cascade, a chain of lakes occupying a long
valley leads to the dividing ridge, where a little tributary
of Lake Mistassinni takes its rise and forms the canoe
route. Early in September the cold on the Height of
Land was severe, and snow fell. On the 4th of the
month, Michaux arrived at Lake Mistassinni. This vast
lake, little known except to the servants of the old Nor'-
West Company, occupies an area between the 71st and
74th degrees of longitude, and beneath the 51st parallel.
It discharges itself into Hudson's Bay by Eupert's Eiver.
A limestone cave on a tributary near the lake is marked on
the maps by the Jesuits, and is named by the Mistassinni
Lidians, ' The House of the Great Spirit.' In one part
of the lake is a huge isolated rock. The heathen Indians
of these regions invoke the Manitou of this rock when
they traverse the lake. When Pere Albanel first per-
ceived this singular eminence, he asked his guides if they
were going to it. ' Be still,' said the guides ; ' do not
look at that rock if you do not wish us to be lost.
Whoever traverses this lake must show no curiosity with
respect to it ; its aspect alone causes the agitation of

L 2

148 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxix.

these waters, and raises tempests enoiigli to dishearten
the bravest amongst lis,' *

The lake derives its name from this remarkable emi-
nence, Mista-assinni, signifying ' Great Stone,' and tlie
Indians are named the Mistassins or Mistassinni Indians,
probably from the worship which they pay to this rock,
or from the stony nature of the comitry they inhabit.
The Cree word Assinni recalls at once the name of a
river some thousand miles west, the Assinni-boine, and
of a powerful prairie tribe called Assinniboines, or
Stonys by the half-breeds.

In Michaux's manuscript notes the following description
of the Mistassinni coimtry is given : f —

In the neighbourhood of Hudson's Bay and the great Lake
Mistassinni, the trees which, some degrees farther south, form
the mass of the forest, have almost entirely disappeared in this
latitude, in consequence of the severity of the winters and the
sterility of the soil. The whole country is cut up by thousands
of lakes, and covered with enormous rocks piled one on the top
of the other, which are often carpeted with large lichens of a
black colour, and which increase the sombre aspect of these
desert and almost uninhabitable regions. It is in the spaces
between the I'ocks that one finds a few pine (Pinus rupestris),
which attain an altitude of three feet, and even at this small
height show signs of decay. However, 150 miles farther south,
this tree acquires a better and stronger growth, but it never
rises higher than eight or ten feet.

Michaux enumerates the following trees and plants in

* Kelatiun des Jesuiles.

t Voi/(ii/c (f Andre Michaux en Canada dcjiia's Ic Lac Cltanrphiin jasqita
hi Bate d'Hudsmi. Tar O. Brunet. Quebec, 1861.

CHAP. XXIX. tup: MISTASSINNI country. 149

the Mistassinni country : — A stunted pine (Pinu.s rupe.s'-
tris), dwarf birch (Betida nana), juniper bushes, wild
gooseberries (Ribes oxycanthdides and Ribes trifidmn),
the Indian tea [Ledum paliistre), and some species of
blackberries ( Vaccinium ccespitosum, and V. myrtiUo'ides)*

* Flora Boreali-Americana.

150 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. (H\i-. xxx.

CHAPTEE XXX.

THE LABRADORIANS.

Origin of the Labradorians — The Condition of the Coast in 1853,
contrasted with 1861 — Esquimaux Point — Acadians — An Aca-
dian Settlement — Reasons for emigrating to the ' North Shore ' —
Natashquan — Importance of these Settlements — Spring and
Summer Life of the Labradorians — The only Cow on the Coast —
Character of the Country about Natashquan — Communication
between the Settlements — Labrador Dogs — Esquimaux Dogs —
An old ■ Exile — Quarrelsome Dogs — The Labrador Whip —
Jealousy among the Dogs — The Newfoundland Favourite — The
Pig and the Goat — Sagacity of the Dogs — The Commetique —
Comparative Endurance of the Esquimaux and Mixed Breed of
Dogs — Power of the Esquimaux Whip — The Boston Yankee — -
Hospitality of the Labradorians — Mce of Drunkenness — Ameri-
can Traders — Love for the Wild Life in Labrador — The Resident
on the Atlantic Coast — The Esqiiimaux Half-breeds — The Good
Results of the Labours of Moravian Missionaries — A Half-breed
Esquimaux School in a ' Tilt ' — Excellent Character of the Esqui-
maux Half-breeds — The Esquimaux of Peel's River — Death on
the Labrador — Labrador Sepulchres — Mournful Epitaphs.

THE language spoken by the Labradorians of the Gulf
generally indicates the race from which they or
their ancestors originally sprung, although it does not
inform us of the })lace of their birth. The French
language is generally spoken between Mingan and the
St. Augustine, and the residents are chiefly of Acadian
or Canadian origin, with a few settled fishermen from
France. From the St. Ausfustine to the Bav of Bradore,

(iT\r. XXX.

VILLACil-: AT I':SQUIMAUX POIXT.

]ol

tlie English tongue prevails universally; but many of the
Labradorians speak l)oth languages.

The houses of the residents are constructed of wood,
brought ready prepared from Quebec, Gaspe, or New-
foundland. In process of time limestone, which abounds
on the Mingan Islands and elsewhere, will be em-
ployed by tliose who can afford that luxury. Writing-
in 1853, Mr. Bowen, Avho visited Labrador in that year,
states that the largest collection of buildings tlien on
the coast, sixteen in number, was at Sparr Point, the resi-
dence of Mr. S. Robertson, in the Bay of Tabatiere,
900 miles from Quebec. Generally the settlers live in

ESQriM.vrx POINT, looking west.

groups of two or thi'ce families four or five miles apart,
on what are locally termed seal-fishing berths, or pecheries.
At Esquimaux Point an Acadian village has sprung up,
and some excellent two-storied wooden houses give the
appearance of civilisation to this once desolate sliore.

152 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxx.

The first family came liere four years ago. Ferman
Bondrot was the leader of tlie pai'ty ; they hailed from
the Magdalen Islands, where finding living too expensive,
with no prospect of improvement, they determined to
brave all the threats of seigneurs, and establish them-
selves on the north shoie of the Gulf in the Seigneurie
of Mingan. There are now forty-three famihes at Esqui-
maux Point, or rather Pointe St. Paul, as it has been
named by the priest who has lately come to live with
the new colonists. They have already cleared and fenced
some acres of land, and at the time of my visit in August
1861, the gardens were well stocked with potatoes,
cabbages, and turnips. The situation of this new settle-
ment is beautiful, and the back country well capable of
sustaining a lai^ge number of cattle in the vast marshes
at the foot of the hills, which rise in rugged masses a
few miles from the shore. The houses are very neat
and roomy ; the one in which I passed the night con-
tained one large room thirty feet square, with a space
partitioned off for a bed-room ; the upper story was
divided into sleeping apartments. A stair, or rather ladder,
led to the dormitories which the younger members of the
family tenanted, the parents occupying the ground-floor.
The old-fashioned double stove, so common throughout
Eupert's Land, was placed in the middle of the room, and
served both for cooking and heating purposes. The floors
were neatly boarded with tongued and grooved flooring
brought from Quebec, and an air of cleanliness and
comfort was common to this as well as to other houses
I visited. Alas ! it was only an air of comfort and
cleanliness, for Avhen I lay down to sleep on an Acadian

CHAP. XXX. SETTLEMENTS AT NATASIIQUAX. 1,53

])ed, wliite and clean externally, it was soon painfully
evident that there were thousands of other occuj^ants,
which made sleep impossible. Six more families are ex-
pected at this settlement in the autumn, which will make
the whole number of families now living at Esquimaux
Point f<jrty-nine, the nucleus of a fishing village which
may yet rise to the dignity of a small town. They have
already some pigs and sheep, and are preparing to bring
cows from Gaspe or the Magdalen Islands. They enjoy
the ministrations of a resident priest, and have a school
for the young. Abbe Ferland asked one of the newly
arrived emigrants why he had brought his family from
the lono;-settled Maodalen Islands, and soutjlit a home on
the north shore. .'Why,' replied the Acadian, 'the
plagues of Egypt had fallen upon us. The first three
came with bad harvests, the seigneurs, and the traders ;
the remaining four arrived with the gentlemen of the
law. The moment lawyers set their feet upon our island,
there was no longer any hope left of maintaining ourselves
there.' East of Esquimaux Point there are not many
places where the advantages for settlement are so many
or so attractive ; but the new village is stiU some hundreds
of miles from the settlements on the coast of the estuary of
the St. Lawrence, and nearly 500 miles from Quebec by
the winter road. The A cadian settlers at Natashquan, some
forty families in number, will also soon have a priest in
residence ; they made an attempt to establish a school
two years since, but could not raise sufficient funds to
pay the teacher. These new settlements ought to obtain
their share of public money for school purposes, and
then it is probable that schools will soon be esta-

154 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxx.

blished at Esquimaux Point, Natashquan, Salmon Har-
bour, &c. East of Natashquan it is not yet known
whether land capable of being cultivated, and fuel in
sufficient abundance exists, to warrant the expectation
that such settlements as Esquimaux Point can take so
rapid a rise with such fair prospects of increase and per-
manency. The importance of a few permanent fishing
villages or towns on the Gulf shore, and even on the
Atlantic coast, can scai'cely be over-estimated in view
of the wonderful extent of the fishing-grounds which
they command, and the growing fish trade of the ' North
Shore.'

The spring and sinimier life of the Labradorians is
exclusively devoted to fishing. Tkey have no leisure
at that period to attend to other occupations, so that
it will not excite surprise that until last year the
only cow on this vast extent of Gulf coast east of
Esquimaux Point was at Natagamiou ; the happy pro-
prietor obtained but little profit from his charge, for the
impression gained ground among the simple people that
cow's milk was a cure for all imaginable maladies. From
far and near, within the limits of thirty miles on either
side, they sent for a ' drop of milk ' when sickness was
upon them ; and as no charge is ever made for such
items on this hospitable coast, the owner of the cow had
no milk left for himself.

A second Acadian colony was established near Natash-
quan, ninety miles from Mingan, in 1857 ; it already
numbers tliirty families. Natashquan, it has been already
stated, is famous for its seals, and it is chiefly for the
convenience of catching these ' marine wolves ' in the

CHAP. XXX. LABRADOR DOGS. 155

spring of the year that the Acadians have permanently
estabhshed themselves there. From the month of April
to the month of November, the fishermen of Natash-
quan are engaged in catching seals, salmon, cod, her-
ring, and mackerel. They own three schooners, while
the more wealthy residents of Esquimaux Point boast of
a round dozen. In the rear of this settlement there is
abundance of timber for fuel, and a short chstance from
the shore the trees are sufficiently large for buildino-
purposes. Communication between the different settle-
ments on the coast is chiefly by w^ater during the sum-
mer, and in winter on snow-shoes or by dog-trains.

Each family has generally eight or ten dogs, either of
the pure Esquimaux breed or intermixed with other
varieties from New^foundland or Canada. Durino- the
summer time the dogs have nothing to do but eat, drink,
sleep, and quarrel ; but when the first snow falls, their
days of ease are numbered, and the working season
begins. The Labrador dogs are excessively quarrelsome,
and, wolf-like, always attack the weaker. All seem
anxious to take part in the fray, and scarcely a season
passes without the settlers losing two or three dogs
during the summer from the w^ounds which they
receive in their frequent quarrels among themselves.
Confirmed bullies are generally made comparatively
harmless, by tying one of their forefeet to the neck,
which, although it does not prevent them from joining
in any extempore scuffle which may spring up, yet so
hampers their movements that the younger and weaker
combatants have time to escape. Peace is instantly
restored, even if twenty or more are engaged in the

156 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxx,

affray, by the sound, or even sight, of the dreaded Es-
quimaux whip used by the Labradorians.

Up to the present time, with two or three excep-
tions, says the Abbe Ferland, no settler has succeeded
in raising any domesticated animal on account of the
dogs ; cats, cows, pigs, and sheep have all been destroyed
by them. Even if a dog has been brought up in the
house, his doom is sealed ; at the first opportunity,
when the master is away, the others pounce upon him
and worry him to deatli. A settler had procured a fine
dog of the Newfoundland breed, full of intelligence, and
capable, by his extraordinary swimming powers, of ren-
dering great service to the fishermen in the sea. The
Newfoundland enjoyed the privilege of entering into
his master's house and receiving the caresses of the
different members of his family. This evident prefer-
ence excited deep jealousy in the breasts of the Labrador
dogs. They patiently waited for an occasion to avenge
themselves. When their master was present, all was
fair, open, and peaceable ; but one day a favourable
opportunity occurred, and they fell on the poor New-
foundland, killed him, and dragged his body to the sea.
On their return to the house, the embarrassed mien of
the conscious dogs led the settler to suspect that some-
thing was w^rong. He soon missed the pet Newfoundland,
and after a few hours discovered the mangled body of
his favourite lying on tlie beach, where it had been left
by the retiring waves. Only one pig and one goat had
escaped the general massacre when Abbe Ferland was on
the coast in 1858. A Boston merchant, in search of
health, which was far more precious to him than cod-fish

CHAP. XXX. WIXTER WORK OF THE DOGS. 157

or seal-skins, came to seek benefit from tlie keen invigo-
rating air of Labrador during a summer sojourn on the
coast. He brought the goat to supply him with milk,
and the pig because it was ' a pet.' Scarcely Irad he
succeeded in landing his cargo, when both animals were
attacked by the dogs. The pig was immediately snatched
from their powerful jaws, not without receiving some
severe bites, and put into a barrel ; the goat proved a
match for his savage assailants : the first which attacked
him was received on his horns and tossed howling over the
goat's head. A second was served in the same way.
The others, astonished, drew back, and from a short dis-
tance contemplated their new antagonist with more of
awe than curiosity. The goat stood firm, with head
depressed, ready for a third attack ; the dogs wavered,
the goat charged at the nearest, away went the pack
helter-skelter, and from that moment never attempted to
molest the goat again. Matters, however, did not stoj)
here ; peace being proclaimed between the goat and the
dogs, a cautious reserve gradually grew into confidence,
confidence into positive friendship, and in a few weeks
the goat and dogs took their rambles together, and at
night lay on the moss as if they were members of the
same family.

During the winter season the Labrador dogs make a
full return to their masters for all the anxiety and trouble
they give them during the summer months. Harnessed
to the sledge, or commetique as it is termed on the coast,
they will travel fifty or sixty miles a day over the snow.
They liaul wood from tlie interior, carry supplies to the
liunters in the forests far l^ack from the rocky and deso-

158 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA, chap. xxx.

late coasts, merrily draw tlieir masters from house to
house, and with their wonderful noses pick out the right
path even in the most pitiless storm. If the traveller
will only trust to the sagacity of an experienced leader,
he may wi^ap himself up in his bear- and seal-skin robes,
and, regardless of piercing winds and blinding snow-drifts,
these sagacious and faithful animals will draw him securely
to his own door or to the nearest house. The commetique
is about thirty inches broad and ten or twelve feet long ;
it is formed of two longitudinal runners, fastened together
by means of transverse bars let into the runners and
strengthened with strips of copper. The runners are
shod with whalebone, which, by friction over the snow,
soon becomes beautifully polished, and look like ivory.
The commetique is well floored with seal-skins, over
which bear- or seal-skins are nailed all round, with an
opening for the traveller to introduce his body. The
harness is made of seal-skin ; the foremost dog, called
the guide, is placed about thirty feet in advance, the
others are ranged in pairs behind the guide ; some-
times three, sometimes four, pairs of dogs are thus
attached to one commetique besides the guide.

The Esquimaux dog of pure breed, with his strong-
built frame, long white fur, pointed ears, and bushy tail,
is capable of enduring hunger to a far greater extent
than the mixed breed. But the mixed breed beat him
in long journeys if they are fed but once a day. An
Esquimaux dog will travel for two days without food ;
one of the mixed breed must be fed at the close of the
first day, or he can do little the next. These powerful,
quarrelsome, and even savage animals are kept under

CHvr. XXX. THE ESQUIMAUX WHIP. 159

absolute control by the formidable Esquimaux whip.
Even in the middle of summer, the first glimpse of the
wliip is sufficient to arrest the most bloody battle. The
lash of a good whip is about thirty-five feet long, attached
to a handle not more than eight or ten inches. An ex-
perienced driver can hit any part of the leader he chooses
with the extremity of his formidable weapon. Tlie best
' whippers ' are well known on the coast, and to become
an experienced hand is an object of the highest ambition
amouG!' the youmT; men of the risino; cjeneration. Abbe
Ferland tells a capital tale of a long Boston Yankee, wdio
was emulous of the fame of one of the most distinguished
Labradorian whippers. He offered, ft)r a bottle of rum,
to receive two blows on his legs from the hands of a
celebrated driver. With a wise precaution, he enveloped
his lower extremities with two pairs of stout drawers, and
over them he placed two pairs of strong trousers. Rely-
ing upon this fourfold shield, he placed himself in posi-
tion, at a distance of forty feet. The Labradorian,
arming himself with one of the longest whips, whirled
it about his head for a few seconds, and then brought it
down with such terrific effect upon the legs of the poor
Yankee that the lash cut through trousers, drawers, and
fiesh nearly to the bone. A loud and prolonged nasal
shriek broke upon the ears of the anxious spectators ;
the long Yankee stooped down to probe the depth of his
wound, but when the proposition to receive the second
blow was made to him, he generously renounced the
bottle of rum, and, with characteristic twang, replied,
' Wall ! I guess I 'd be too leaky to hold li(|uor witli
another stroke.'

160 THE LABRADOE PENINSULA. chap. xxx.

Uniform hospitality is the characteristic trait of the
Labradorians. With a few exceptions, they are very like
one another in their manners and customs. Under many
circumstances, property may be said to be held in com-
mon. When the stock of provisions belonging to one
family is exhausted, those of a neighbour are offered as
a matter of course, without any payment being exacted
or even expected. When a ' planter,' as they are often
termed on the coast, has occasion to leave his house with
his family, it is the custom to leave the door on the latch,
so that a passer-by or a neighbour can enter at any time.
Provisions are left in accessible places, and sometimes a
notice, written with charcoal or chalk, faces the stranger
as he eiiters, informing him where he may find a supply
of the necessaries of life if he should be in want of them.
Father Pinet (0. M. I.*) relates that he came one day to
the house of a planter durmg the absence of the family,
and not only found directions how and where to find the
provisions, rudely Avritten in chalk, for the benefit of any
passing stranger, but one of his party, on opening a box,
saw a purse lying quite exposed, and containing a con-
siderable sum of money. The vice of drunkenness is the
only one of which the missionaries complain in their
reports. Tlie swarms of American fishermen who come
here during the summer montlis bring an ample supply
of whisky and rum for the purposes of trade. It would
be a boon to the Labradorians if the importation, in any
form, of ardent spirits were strictly prohibited by the
Canadian and Newfoundland Governments. Give these

* Oblat tie Marie Iinniaculee.

CHAP. XXX. LIFE IN LABEADOR. 161

people an ample supply of tea and coffee, instead of
infernal whisky, and they will become the happiest
colonists on the face of the earth. It is remarkable that
Canadians who have hved for years on the coast some-
times gratify a longing to see their village homes again,
but it is only for a few months. The insatiable desire
for the wild free air of Labrador comes over them as soon
as spring returns ; they miss the glorious sea, the coming
ships, the excitement of the seal-hunt, the millions of
wild birds which make the coast their home in the sum-
mer ; they pine to return, which in five cases out of six,
if not an impossibility, they succeed in doing. ' It is
impossible to describe any spot more wild, barren, and
desolate than the port of Labrador (Long Point, near
Bradore Bay),' says the Bishop of Newfoundland, 'and
yet here families from the beautiful downs and combs of
Dorsetshire have settled themselves, and live happily ;
though hard labour, not without danger, is added to their
many other privations. I presume the attractions of such
a situation to consist in their entire liberty and inde-
pendence, with a fuU supply of all things absolutely
necessary for their present life.'

Mr. McLean describes the European inhabitants of
Labrador on the Atlantic coast as consisting for the most
part of British sailors who prefer the freedom of a semi-
barbarous hfe to the restraints of civilisation. They
pass the summer in situations favourable for catching
salmon, which they barter on the spot with the traders
for such commodities as they are in want of. Wlien the
salmon-fishing is at an end, they proceed to the coast
for the purpose of fishing for cod for their own con-

VOL. II. M

162 THE LABRADOR PEiYINSULA. chap. xxx.

sumption, and return late in autumn to the interior,
where they pass the winter in trapping fur-bearing animals.
The Esquimaux* half-breeds live much in the same way
as their European progenitors, and though unacquainted
with any particular form of rehgious worship, they
evince in their general conduct a greater regard for the
precepts of Christianity than many who call themselves
Christians. Mr. McLean was surprised to find all the
Esquimaux half-breeds able to read and write, although
without schools or schoolmasters. The task of teaching
devolves upon the mother ; should she, however, be un-
qualified, a neighbour is always ready to impart the
desired instruction. Here we see the good effect of the
work of the Moravian missionaries. Conjure up, if we can,
the picture of an Esquimaux half-breed mother, seated
in her rude ' tilt,' f teaching her children to read and
write. A thermometer outside would register perhaps
twenty degrees below zero, and the ceaseless hum of the
Atlantic swell is heard day and night as the breakers dash
on rocks or masses of ice piled up on the beach like a wall,
which the freezing spray consohdates, until a barrier is
formed strong enough to last until the warm breath of
spring loosens the band, or a storm tears it away.

The Esquimaux half-breeds are very ingenious; the
men make their own boats, and the women prepare
everything required for domestic convenience ; almost
every man is his own blacksmith and carpenter, and

* Esquimaux — from the Cree words ' asliki,' raw ; ' mow/ to eat — eaters
of raw flesli.

I 'Tilt.' The planters on the Atlantic coast call their houses 'tilts.'
They are generally formed of stakes driven into the ground, chinked with
moss, and covered with bark. They are warmed with stoves.

CHAP. XXX. THE ESQUIMAUX. 163

every woman a tailor and shoemaker. 'They seem,'
says Mr. McLean, Ho possess all the virtues of the
dilTerent races from which they are sprung, except
courage ; they are generally allowed to be more timid
than the natives. But if not courageous, they possess
vulues that render courage less necessary ; they avoid
giving offence, and are seldom, therefore, injured by
others.'

The Esquimaux have always been regarded as a very
ingenious race, and in general superior to the Lidians of
the interior of the American continent. The Eev. W. W.
Kirkby, whom I had the pleasure of meeting frequently at
EedEiver in 1857 and 1858, describes the Esquimaux of
the Lower Mackenzie as possessing some characteristics
differing from those of the same race who frequent the
northern coasts of the Labrador Peninsula. Mr. Kirkby
is now on a missionary tour in the Mackenzie Eiver
district, and the following extract from a commvmication
sent by him from ' the Youcon will be read with in-
terest. A brief notice of the habits of the Indian on
this little known and remote river, from the pen of Mr.
Kirkby, is contained in the Appendix.

I left home on the 2nd of May in a canoe paddled by a couple
of Indians belonging to my mission here. We followed the ice
down the noble Mackenzie, staying awhile with Indians wherever
we met them, and remained three or four days at each of the
forts along the route. On the 11th of June I left the zone in
which my life had hitherto been jDassed, and entered the less
genial arctic one. Then, however, it was pleasant enough. The
immense masses of ice piled on each side of the river sufficiently
cooled the atmosphere to make travelling enjoyable ; while
the sun shed upon us the comfort of light nearly the whole

M 2

164 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxx.

twenty-four hours, and as we advanced farther northward he
did not leave us at all. Frequently did I see him describe a
complete circle in the heavens.

Between Point Separation and Peel's Eiver, we met several
parties of Esquimaux, all of whom from their thievish propensi-
ties gave us a great deal of trouble, and very glad were we to
escape out of their hands without loss or injury. They are a
fine-looking race of people, and from their general habits and
appearance I imagine them to be much more intelligent than
the Indians. And if proof were wanting I think we have it in
a girl who was brought up from the coast, little more than three
years ago, and who now speaks and reads the English language
with considerable accuracy. The men are tall, active, and
remarkably strong, many of them having a profusion of whiskers
and beard. The women are rather short, but comparatively
fair, and possess very regular and by no means badly formed
features. The females have a very singular practice of periodi-
cally cutting the hair from the crown of their husband's head
(leaving a bare place precisely like the tonsure of a Koman
Catholic priest), and, fastening the spoil to their own, wear it in
bunches on each side of their face, and a third on the top of
their head, something in the manner of the Japanese who
recently visited the United States. This custom, as you will
imagine, by no means improved either their figure or appear-
ance ; and as they advance in life, the bundles must become to
them uncomfortably large. A very benevolent old lady was
most urgent for me to partake of a slice of blubber, but I need
hardly say that a sense of taste caused me firmly but respect-
fully to decline accepting her hospitality. Both sexes are in-
veterate smokers. Their pipes they manufacture themselves,
and are made principally of copper ; in shape, the bowl is very
like a reel used for cotton, and the hole through the centre
of it is as large as the aperture of the pipe for holding the
tobacco. This they fill, and when lighted will not allow a
single whiff to escape, but in the most unsmoker-like manner
swallow it all, withholding respiration until the pipe is finished.
The effect of this upon their nervous system is extremely great,
and often do they fall on the ground completely exhausted, and

CHAP. XXX. BURIAL-PLACES IN LABEADOE. 165

for a few minutes tremble like an aspen leaf. The heavy beards
of the men, and the fair complexions of all, astonished my
Indians greatly, who in their surprise called them 'Manooli
Conde,' like white people. They were all exceedingly well-
dressed in deer-skin clothing, with the hair outside, which, being
new and nicely ornamented with white fur, gave them a clean
and very comfortable appearance. Their little Kiyachs were
beautifully made, and all the men were well armed with deadly-
looking knives, spears, and arrows, all of their own manufacture.
The Indians are much afraid of them ; and so afraid of my
safety were two different parties that I saw on my way down,
that a man from each of them, who could speak a little Eskimos,
volunteered to accompany me, without fee or reward ; and
invaluable did I find their services. Poor fellows, they will
never see this ; but I cannot refrain from paying them here
my tribute of gratitude and thanks.

Death is at all times solemn and sad, but if we may
judge of the feelings which weigh upon the Labradorians
by the rude inscriptions upon their still ruder tombs,
or hung near their places of sepulture (for cemeteries
they cannot be named), the loss of friends in those
rocky wave-washed wilds is most keenly felt.

There is something very touching in the stern necessity
which compels the people on some part of the desolate
coasts between Cape Wliittle and Bradore Bay to bury
their dead in clefts and holes of the rocks. They dare
not, for fear of the bears, lay them, as the Lake Huron
Indians do, on the bare gneiss, and cover them with
stones. They ' hide them in caves and holes of the earth,'
and sometimes inscribe their grief on the hard rock, or
on pieces of wood beyond the reach of beasts of prey.
The Eoman Cathohc priests, on their annual arrivals,
often visit these primitive resting-places of the dead.

166 THE LABEADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxx.

and sanctify the spot, reciting the Libera over the natural
tombs of tliose who have died during the year. Some
of the epitaphs are very mournful. The following touch-
ing lines, rudely carved on a block of wood over the
grave of a young girl twenty-two years old, reveal a
blessed hope in a future meeting, and a love not often
excelled on earth, if these words express the true feelings
of the heart : —

We loved her !

Yes ! no language can tell how we loved her.

God in His love

Called her to the home of peace and repose.

And this on the rocky and desert coast of the most
sterile part of Labrador, The grave a cleft in the rock,
the rude tablet which recorded the love and faith of
those she had left behind inscribed with words as beau-
tifully expressed and as full of hope, as if they had been
written on the tomb of a fau^ English girl who had
drooped beneath the shade of the ' tall ancestral trees '
of an English home.

167

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS OF THE LABRADOR
PENINSULA.

Results of Missionaiy Labour among the Indians — The Experience
and Evidence of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Quebec, in 1843 —
Inefficiency of the Early Jesuit Missionaries — Efforts in 1638 to civi-
lise the Hurons of Lorette — Experience of 200 Years — Something
beyond an exclusive Religious Education required by Indians —
Proofs of the Fitness of certain Indian Tribes to acquire a con-
siderable degi-ee of Civilisation and Stability — Influence of
Scenery and Country over the Montagnais Tribes and over the Sandy
Hill Indians of Lake Huron (Ojibways) — Influence of the 'Wild
Goose Clang ' on the Montagnais — Evidence of Charles Tache in
1824 — Origin of the Jesuit Missions in Lower Canada — Results of the
Missions — An Indian Saint — Character of the Roman Catholic
Missions on the Coast — Pere Babel's Description — Pere Ai-naud's
Description — Catholic Families on the North Shore.

A VIEW of the labours of the missionaries in the
Labrador Peninsula, as far as the Indians are con-
cerned, only tends to confirm impressions arising from a
study of the results obtained elsewhere among particular
tribes, when permitted to remain half civilised and very
superficially educated. It is the same tale over again.
The Indians become christianised in a greater or less
degree, according to the meaning which is attached to that
term by members of different denominations. But they
make no improvement ; and, with few exceptions, they
turn to their rivers and forests with instinctive love. .

168 THE LABRADOE PENINSULA. chap. xxxr.

Nineteen-twentietlis of the Labrador Indians are Eoman
Catholics, and the labours of the missionaries of that
faith have the first claim to notice. In 1843 the
Eoman Catholic Bishop of Quebec replied to the
enquiries of the commission appointed to investigate
Indian affairs with much candour, but with no little
regard for the maintenance of Eoman Cathohc sway-
over the Indians, whom they claim as their own. The
opinion of the Bishop is decisive ; he thinks that Indians
residing in villages (and he refers particularly to the
Hurons of Lorette) have no desire whatever of making
further progress in civilisation ; that it is useless to impart
to them any other knowledge than that of their religion ;
and tliat it is a loss of time to attempt to wean them
from the roaming life which they think themselves destined
to lead.*

Proofs without number exist of the inefficacy of the
early Jesuit missions in the wilds of Canada ; the Hurons
of Lorette, for instance, have existed for more than
200 years in the neighbourhood of the most ancient,
and one of the most populous cities of Canada, without
advancing in civihsation.

Charlevoix relates that in 1638, when rehgious zeal, as

* After giving this judgement, the Bishop adds, 'Incase it should be
competent for the commission, in whose name you have written to me, to
enquire into the religious state of our Indians, I will take the liberty of sug-
gesting, through you, that if it be desired that these Indians should have for
their religious faith that attachment and respect, without which they are
continually exposed to stray from the paths of lionom- and of honesty, it is
important that those preachers should not be admitted amongst them, who,
without any mission whatever, and under the pretext of preaching the Gospel,
carry division and trouble among the tribes, who will always be peaceable
and united as long as they are faithful to the religion of their foreftithers.'

cuAP. XXXI. HABITS OP THE MONTAGNAIS. 169

well with the Catholics as with the Protestants, was at its
height, the Jesuits in Canada urged the expediency of
giving to the Huron Indians lands in the neighbourhood
of Quebec, where they might hve together in the European
manner, and receive religious instruction. ' Entire com-
munities in Paris and in the provinces imposed upon
themselves penances, and offered up pubhc prayers, for
the success of this enterprise. Persons of the highest
rank at the French Court, the princesses of the blood,
and the Queen herself, entered into and promoted the
views of the missionaries.' *

The Montagnais have shown themselves equally incapable
of resigning the wild freedom of their forests, and living a
settled hfe in villages. It may be urged in defence of
the Indian character, that they ought to have been taught
the common and useful mechanical trades, and also how
to till the earth. Many have been so taught, but they liave
gone back to their old forest life, for which they seem to
have an innate love incapable of being rooted out.

' No Indian woidd bear the restraint and confinement
necessary to Jearn a trade,' f is the testimony of the
Secretary of Indian Affairs in Canada — a sweeping gene-
ralisation, which is controverted by the condition of the
Abenakis in Maine, the settled tribes in Michigan, and
elsewhere. Particular tribes are more difficult to civilise
than others. The nomadic Montagnais, wanderers in a
mountainous and rocky wilderness, have acquired a
nature distinct from other Algonquin tribes whose hunt-

* Appendix to Rep. of the Leg. Ass. Lower Canada, 1824.
t E\ddence of the Secretaiy of Indian Affairs, respecting the Iroquois or
Mohawks of Caughnawaga.

170 THE LABEADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxxi.

ing-grounds lie in fertile valleys or uplands, and who
have always shown a disposition to cultivate the soil.

The physical features of a country have a very marked
influence upon Indian character. This is strikingly
shown in the north and south shores of Lake Huron ;
on the south shore there are tolerably good Indian
farmers ; on the north shore, the Sandy Hill Indians are
altogether indisposed to leave the wilds of the Laurentian
forests.

The Sandy Hill Indians, 145 in number, are heathens,
and hve alternately on the borders of Lake Huron, about
fifty miles north-west of Penetanguishane, and in the
interior north of that place. They cultivate very small
patches of maize and potatoes, not as a dependence for
food during the winter, but rather as a bonne honche in
the autumn.

When they go to the interior in the autumn to hunt
beaver and other animals for their skins, they generally
carry a supply of dried fish in case of a failure in their
trapping.

Wlien they return to the lake in the winter, they
resort to the precarious mode of procuring food by
cutting holes in the ice, and watching for and spearing
such fish as may be attracted by a decoy or are casually
passing by. In this way they in some days kill as many
as a hundred, but at other times they lie on the ice for many
days together and perhaps do not see one, depending
in the meantime on hare and partridge snares for sub-
sistence.

No sooner do the Montagnais hear the clang of the wild
goose in the early spring tlian the old yearrdng comes back

CHAP. XXXI. JESUIT MISSIONS. 171

again, and among tlie young who have never camped in the
woods, the feeling grows until it becomes a passion, which
must be gratified at any risk, and in spite of any loss.

The Eoman Cathohc missionaries in former times, and
to a certain extent at the present day, supported them-
selves by exacting furs from the Indians in compensa-
tion for their services, and their teaching was confined to
rehgion. Charles Tache the elder, in his evidence before
the committee of the House of Assembly of Lower Canada
in 1824, states that 'it appears from the reports of the
Indians, that the Jesuits who went to settle at Lake St.
John in the reign of Louis XIV., at wliich time the
Montagnais nation was in its highest prosperity, were
six in number ; that they liad settled there under pretence
of diffusing Christianity among the Indians. They only
cultivated the soil for the wants of their settlement. They
prevailed on almost all the Indians to become Christians,
and had the greatest influence over them.' In a very
satirical strain Mr. Taclie continues : ' All was well for
some years, but the Company of the Indies having per-
ceived that the reverend fathers, with rosaries, small
crosses, relics, and an abundance of prayers, procured
more furs, and of a quality superior to that of those
which the Company could purchase with merchandise
which they imported at great expense from Europe,
succeeded in sending the reverend fathers to sell their
merchandise elsewhere.' *

The origin of the Jesuit missions in Canada is in keep-
ing with the customs and modes of thinking common at

* Appendix. Leg. Ass. Lower Canada, 1823-24.

172 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxxi.

the period when New France was first handed over to
tlie control of a company of merchants from Eouen,
St. Malo, and Eochelle. Tlie Prince de Conde in the
year 1620 disposed of his viceroyship to his brother-in-
law, the Marechal de Montmorency, for 11,000 crowns ;
and the Marechal, in his turn, sold it in 1622 to his own
nephew, the Due de Ventadour. While the uncle seems
thus to have had his own temporal interest in view, the
chief concern of the nephew was the spiritual welfare of
those heathen nations who resided within his newly
purchased viceroyalty. ' The Duke,' says Charlevoix,
'has retired from the court, and has even entered into
holy orders. It was not for tlie purpose of returning to
the bustle and business of the world, but to procure the
conversion of the savages, that he took upon himself the
charge of the affairs of New France ; and as the Jesuits had
the direction of his conscience, he cast his eyes upon them
for the execution of his project. He submitted the pro-
posal to the council of the King, and His Majesty the more
wilhngly assented to it, because the Eecollet Fathers, so
far from objecting to the measm^e, had themselves first
recommended it to the Duke.'

' Thus commenced those celebrated missions into the
wilds of Canada, which were principally directed by the
society of Jesuits. They continued, year after year, to
send their missionaries into the savage regions of JSTorth
America, in order to promote the great work in which
they were engaged. The labour and constancy with
which tliese men pursued their projects have never been
surpassed. In Canada, the French missionary entered
upon his task with the fervour of a zealot, and often closed

CI1A.F. xxxf. KESULT OF THE MISSIONS. 173

it by suffering tlie fate of a martyr. But after all, what was
the result? Did the missionaries of New France, after 1 50
years of zeal and exertion, leave behind them a single
Indian tribe whom they had actually converted to Chris-
tianity ? Li the interior at least, where there were at one
time about twenty missions of the Jesuits, there is little,
if any, trace of such conversion. It is said, indeed, that
silver crucifixes are still to be found hanging at the necks
of distant Indians ; and so would anything else which
their ancestors had received and handed down to them as
ornamental trinkets. We look in vain for any dawning
of moral improvement, or the slightest trace of benefit
obtained, among those remote and uncivilised nations to
which the mission extended. As far as the improvement
of the Indian race was concerned, the labour was thrown
away ; and it is to be lamented that no experience sufficed
to convince the Government of France that the mode
adopted was not likely to effect the object in view.' *

But if no trace was transmitted of the labours of that
long Une of missionaries who Hved and died between 1611
and 1672, some of their missions still remain in name at
least, and pious stories of their wonderful conversions of
the heathen and the suffering of the holy fathers still fall
mournfully on the ears of the French Canadians.

Among the female converts in Canada, none holds so
conspicuous a place as ' la jeune Tegahkouita, vierge
Iroquoise ! '

'Tegahkouita was born in the country of the Mohawks ;
her father was a pagan Iroquois, her mother an Algonquin

* Halkett's Notes respecting tlie North American Indians.

174 THE LABRADOK PENINSULA. chap. xxxt.

convert, and she was left an orphan at a very early age,
under the charge of an uncle and two aunts. As soon as
she became marriageable, they naturally wished that their
niece should have a husband. For this purpose, they
cast their eyes upon [i young man whose alliance seemed
advantageous, and they accordingly proposed the match
to him and his family, although without the knowledge
of Tegahkouita.'

' It is the business of the relations,' says Pere Carlenec,
' to make up marriages, and not those who are to be
united. When the relatives have agreed upon the affair,
the young man goes into the cabin of his intended spouse,
and seats himself down beside her.'

Tegahkouita, when the young Indian thus sat down, is
stated to have been much disconcerted. She blushed,
then, arising quickly, went out of the cabin in great indig-
nation ; nor would she enter it again until the youth had
departed. This conduct highly offended her relations,
who, by threats and persecution, did everything in their
power, but in vain, to make her change her resolution.
She bore their treatment with patient resignation ; and at
length they ceased for a time to give her further trouble
on the subject.

Two of the missionaries, during their short stay in the
Indian village where Tegahkouita resided, had some time
before commenced the rehgious instructions by means of
which she afterwards became so celebrated in Canada ;
and Pere Jacques de Lamberville, the Jesuit, perceiving
her increasing zeal, at length baptized her, giving her the
christian name of Catherine.

The persecutions against her having been renewed, she

CHAP. XXXI. CATHERINE, THE lEOQUOIS SAINT. 175

contrived to escape from her native village, and to take
refuge with the mission at Saiilt St. Louis, near Montreal.
But here, though freed from the ill-usage of her enemies,
she was not exempted from the persecution of her friends.
Marriage — hateful marriage — was again pressed on this
maiden convert. Every means of persuasion was used,
but in vain; and at last the Church admitted her into its
bosom as a nun. ' She was the first of her nation,' says
Charlevoix, ' who entered into vows of perpetual virginity.'
Tegahkouita now began to prescribe for herself the
most rigid penance. She strewed her bed with thonis,
rolled herself among briers and prickles, mixed up earth
and ashes with her food, travelled amid ice and snow
with her feet naked, and then scorched them in the flames.
Under this regimen her health, as might naturally have
been expected, rapidly declined, and she died at the early
age of twenty-four, to the inexpressible sorrow of the
college of Jesuits at Quebec.

These, however, found some consolation in knowing
that the effects of her virtue survived her. ' It was the
Mohawk tribe,' says Charlevoix, 'which gave to New
France this Genevieve of JSTorth America, the illustrious
Catherine Tegahkouita, whom Heaven has continued for
almost seventy years to render celebrated by the per-
formance of miracles, the authenticity of which will stand
the proof of the most rigid enquiry.'

Among these. Father Cholenec, writing to his Superior,
mentions the case of the Abbe de la Colombiere, ' Grand-
Archidiacre et Grand- Vicaire de Quebec,' who was
cured of a flux on making a vow to visit her tomb. A
like vow, after nine days' fasting and devotion, obtained

176 THE LABEADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxxi.

deliverance from a severe and protracted gout for Capitaine
de Lutli, ' one of the bravest officers,' says Charlevoix,
' whom the King has ever had in this colony.'

Should any sceptical reader of the good Fathers Cholenec
and Charlevoix suspect that the captain's gout vi^as pro-
bably as much relieved by his own fasting as by the
good offices of an Ii'oquois nun, let him take warning
from the lesson that was mven to the doubtino; curate of
La Chine. ' On every anniversary of the death of La
Bonne Catherine — for that is the name by which, in
deference to the Holy See, she is honoured in Canada —
the neighbouring parishes were in the habit of repairing
to the church, at tlie Sault St. Louis near Montreal, to
perform a solemn mass. The curate of La Chine, M. Eemy,
who had recently arrived from France, having been ap-
prised of this custom, and that his predecessors had
always conformed to it, declared that he did not think
himself authorised to sanction, by his presence, a pubHc
religious solemnity not ordained by the Church. Those
of his parishioners who heard him make this remark,
foretold that it would not be long before their new curate
would be punished for his refusal ; and, in fact, from that
very day M. Eemy fell dangerously sick.'

The historian, however, happily adds, that the worthy
curate, ' perceiving at once the cause of his sudden malady,
made a vow to follow the pious example of his pre-
decessors, upon which he was immediately restored to
healtli.' *

Baron de la Hontan sums up the results attained by

* Plalkett's Notes.

CHAP. xxxr. MISSIONS AMOXG THE MOXTAGXAIS. 177

the early Jesuit missionaries in the following striking
paragraph quoted by Halkett : — ' Almost all the conquests
gained to Christianity by the Jesuits, are those mfants
who have received the rites of baptism, and those old
men who, at the point of death, find no inconvenience in
dying baptised.' This corresponds with what was long
before stated by Pere Lallement, in the account of his
early mission among the Hurons. ' We have this year
baptised more than a thousand, most of them afflicted
with the small-pox ; of whom a large proportion have
died, with every mark of having been received among
the elect. Of these there are more than three hundred
and sixty infants under seven years of age, without
counting upwards of a hundred other little childix-n,
who, having been baptised before, were cut off by the
same malady, and gathered by the angels as flowers in
Paradise. With respect to adult persons in good health,
there is Httle apparent success ; on the contrary, there
have been nothing but stoims and whirlwmds in that
quarter.'

Of late years the Eoman Catholic missions among the
Montagnais have been resumed, and are now systema-
tically carried on ; but it is apparently regarded as
perfectly useless to impart to the Indians any other
knowledge than that of their religion — a system which
the pecuHar position of the Indians, in a country where
they must depend to a great extent upon hunting and
fishing, appears to render necessary.

The Eoman Cathohc missions on the north shore of
the St. Lawrence and on the coasts of Labrador are of
three descriptions: — first, those of the Canadian families

VOL. II. N

178 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. cuAr. xxxi.

living near the saw-mills on rivers wliicli flow into the
St. Lawrence ; secondly, those which follow the lumberers
to their camp, in the vast pine woods on the same rivers;
thirdly, Indian missions at the different stations of the
Hudson's Bay Company, or King's Posts, where chapels
are built, and the Lidians congregate to sell their fui^s
and obtain supphes for their hunt.* These several
missions extend from the mouth of the Saugenay to
the Chapel of the Visitation, over a distance in a direct
hne of about 600 miles.

The Indian missionary remains with his erratic flock,
at the different stations where they meet him on the
coast of Labrador, for a period varying from eight to
twelve days. The religious ceremonies of the Eoman
Cathohc Church are strictly practised during that period;
confessions are made, marriages celebrated, burial services
performed, and baptisms administered, until the missionary
starts for the next station, one or two hundred miles away,
and the Indians disperse, to meet again, in the same way
and at the same time, in the following year. The descrip-
tion of a station given by Pere Babel expresses the
opinion which the Catholic missionaries have formed of
the Montagnais. It differs in no respect from what we
saw at Seven Islands, where Pere Arnaud officiated.
' This last spring (1854) I started for these missions in a
schooner bound for Labrador, and after fourteen days of
monotonous na\^gation, I reached the port of Itamameou

(east of Natashquan).

******

' I was truly happy to find myself among my Indians

* Rapport sur les Missions du Diocese de Quebec, 1854.

CHAP. XXXI. ZEAL OF IXDIAN CHRISTIAJSTS. 179

again ; they are so good, so ingenuous, so submissive.
The missionary is truly amidst them Hke a Either amidst
his children. These are tlie poor people who fear and
detest sin. If you only knew how bitterly they deplore
the errors of their past Hfe ; how their perseverance in
well-doing, and the harmony of their conduct, are
capable of putting to the blush many Christians far more
privileged than they by the abundance of the help which
they receive ! '

It is well worthy of notice, that the mission chapels at
Itamameou, Mingan, Seven Islands, Manicouagan, Islets
de Jeremie, &c., &c., are chiefly maintained by the con-
tributions of the Indians. Pere Babel concludes his letter
by the following tribute to the hberahty of the Mon-
tagnais towards their religious teachers : — ' The Eeverend
Father Durocher, having attended this year the missions of
the Islets de Jeremie, could interest you greatly by the
recital of his travels. The good father could speak to
you of the extraordinary generosity of the Lidians who
frequent that post, some of ivhom deprived themselves of
necessaries in order to provide for the expenses of their
chapel.'' * On the occasion referred to, the sum of 50/.
currency, or ^200, was collected from the Indians towards
building a chapel. Some of the poor contributors were
put to such straits by their hberahty, that on the following
day they were compelled to ask the missionary for some
money to procure the necessaries of hfe. Such are the
impulses which rule in the Indian's breast : is it thought-
lessness, passing enthusiasm, pride, or religious zeal ?

* liapport sur les Missions du Diocese de Quebec, 1855.
N 2

180

THE LABRADOR PENINSULA.

CHAP. XXXI.

Table shoiving the miniber of families (Residents) in communion with the Roman
Catholic Church, between Esquimaux Point and the Boundaries of Canada
at Blanc Sablon, on the Nmih Shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence — Indians not
included.

Parishes

g

o
o

31
1
4
1

1

20

2

6

2

i

2
1
1

1
1
5
3
5
2
7
3
1
2

3
1

2
2
3
4
9

c

S

s

3

s

i

108
4

8
2

11
71

6
30

7
7
5

2

3

5

5

16

19

5

9

25

7

6

2

7
3
9
5
7
3
30

c

3
B

1

fan
7

3
21

1

c
S

c

o

21

"4

"4
14

6
1
3

"i

5

"5
2

5
1

"3

1

'3

"i
3

6

89

•0
1

c

0)

5
1
1

"'3

"i
"i

\

1
3

"i
1

"i

2
1
1

"i

8

2

"5
2

"9

*3

1

6

bo
.2

4

"'i

2

'i
*i

1
"i
"i
"2

5

Is

3
<

1

1

"i

Pointe des Esquimaux
Corneille .
Watichou .
Napissipi .
Riviere Agwanus
Nataskouau
Riviere Kaska .
Kikaska
]Maskouaro .
Wachicoute
La Romaine
Coucoutchou
Itamamiou .
Watacayastik
Natagamiou
Petit Mecatina .
Tete de la Baleiue (Oi
Baie des Moutons
Grosse-Ile (Mecatina)
Baie Rouge (La Taha1
Kikapoue .
Tete de la Baleine (E?
Grosse-Ile St. August
St. Augustin
Baie de Chicataka
Ile-Brulee .
Bonne-Esperauce
Belles-Amours .
Baie de Brador .
Blanc-Sablou

lest) .
tiere)

,t) :

in

Total .

130

426

34

"28

14

3

6

The total number of Eoman Catholics on the North
Shore between Port Neiif and Blanc Sablon, the eastern
boundary of Canada, is 3,841 ; of Protestants 570.

181

CHAPTEE XXXII.

GENERAL DESCEIPTION OF THE NOETII SHORE OF THE
GULF OF ST, LAWRENCE AND OF THE COAST OF
LABRADOR.

Divisions of tlie Coast — The King's Posts — The Seigneurie of
Minpan — The Coast of Labrador — Hudson's Bay Company — Gra-
dual Settlement of the Coast — Prepared Timber for Building Piu'-
poses procured from Quebec — Climate of Part of the North Shore —
Aspect of the Coast — The Atlantic Coast — The Atlantic Swell —
Esquimaux Bay — Scenery of the Bay — Rigolette — Ungava Bay —
The Fisheries of the Coast — Migratory Population — Permanent
Population of the Canadian Coast of the Gidf — Produce of the
Canadian Coast in 1852 and 1861 — Timber of the North-east
Coast — Cartwright's Description of the Forests.

THE whole of the vast extent of country which extends
from the Saiigenay Eiver to the Harbour of Blanc
Sal)lon, a distance of 607 miles by the shore, and thence
back to the dividing ridge which separates the waters flow-
ing into the Gulf from those tributary to Hudson's Bay and
the Atlantic, belongs to Canada, and is divided into three
parts. First, the King's Posts, extending on the river
and Gulf from Port Neuf to Cape Cormorant, 270 miles.
Secondly, the Seigneurie of Mingan,* from Cape Cormorant

* The Seigneurie of Mingan was gi-anted, in 1661, to Francois Bissot.
The Mingan Islands were granted in 1670 to Louis de Lalande and Louis
Jolliet. In 1772, the proprietors leased them for fifteen years, on consideration
of the lessees paying 3 per cent, on the gTOSs produce of their fishery.

In 1807 a company purchased this immense Seigneurie at Sherifi"'s sale at

182 THE LABEADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxxii.

to the river Agwauiis, 135 miles. Thiixlly, the Labrador
coast, from the Agwamis Eiver to Blanc Sablon, 156
miles.

The Hudson's Bay Company long enjoyed the exclusive
privilege of hunting over the interior, and fishing in the
waters of the King's Posts and the Seigneurie of Mingan,
and it is only of late years (since the passing of a law by
the Canadian Parliament permitting any British subject
to take possession of any portion of a beach which is un-
occupied) that attention has been dkected to the fisheries
on this extensive portion of the Canadian coast. Hence
it has occurred that while that part of the coast which
extends from the eastern limits of the Seigneurie of ]\iingan
to Blanc Sablon is comparatively well settled, the shores
of the King's Posts and the Seigneurie, a distance of 400
miles, have been rigidly kept as a hunting preserve by the
Company, and the few and scattered settlements which
they contained were all under their management and
control. Since the extinction of the exclusive rights of
the Company, the germs of many fishing villages have been
established, and that part of the north shore of the Gulf
which has been so long in possession of the fur-traders

Quebec. Tliey established a seal fisbeiy, wbicli was earned on for a few
years ; it was then given up, and the best stations sold. The Seigiiem-ie was
afterwards leased to the Hudson's Bay Company.

After the conquest of Canada by the British, the Bay of Bradore and 150
miles of the coast westward, as far as the limits of the Seigneurie of Miugan,
was monopolised by a company, called the Labrador Company, established
in Quebec, who for sixty years earned on the fishery, imtil the year 1820,
when, in consequence of the failure of the fisheries, they were obliged to
abandon their stations. Since that period, the part of the coast referred to
has been gradually filling up with settlers, and in 18-iO it contained 250
aouls. — Samuel Robertson, of Sparr Point.

CUAI-. xxxii. BRADORE HILLS AND BAY. 183

is beginning to acquire the importance which properly
belongs to it on account of its invaluable fisheries. On
the Labrador and the north shore generally, the houses of
the settlers are three or four miles from one another, and
there are seldom more than six famihes residing at any
village or sedentary seal fishery, with the exception of
about forty resident families at ISTatashquan, twenty-five
at Bradore Bay, and about ten families at La Tabatiere
and several other villages. A detailed census of the coast
is given elsewhere. The dwelling-houses of the people
are constructed of wood, which is generally procured from
Quebec, although the interior villages could furnish timber
in sufficient quantities for all demands on the coast, but in
its present condition it is found to be cheaper to import
ready-prepared timber than to procure it from the interior.
On the coast between the Straits of Belle Isle and Cape
Whittle, the chmate is very severe ; fogs prevail, and
the channels of communication between the open sea and
the shore are sometimes very intricate. Li the interior
the climate is far superior, and much in advance of the
seasons on the coast. The scenery is wild, barren, and
gloomy, the mainland being generally about 500 feet
above the sea, but often much lower ; as w^ell as the islands,
which are imiumerable. The island of Mecatina is 685 feet
above the sea, and, with the Bradore Hills, very remarkable.
These hills are three round-backed mountains situated
inland four or five miles north-eastward from the head of
the Bay of Bradore. The highest summit is 1,2G4 feet
above the sea, and the highest land in this part of the
country from Bradore to the vicinity of ]\Iingan, is at
Cape Mecatina ; but this is not more than 700 feet above

184 THE LABEADOE PENINSULA. chap. xxxu.

the sea, so that there are no imposing hills or mountains
on a long stretch of coast.

From Cape Whittle to Natashquan Point, a distance of
63 miles, the gneissoid hills seldom rise above 200 feet
high, and between that point and the Mingan Islands the
coast does not rise above 400 feet. The banks off this
are very important, and are frequented by vast numbers
of fishermen.*

Cartwright gives a melancholy description of the
Atlantic coast of Labrador. f

Of all the dreary sights which I ever yet beheld, none ever
came up to the appearance of this coast, between Alexis Eiver
and Cartwright Harbour, on my late voyage to Sandwich Bay.

The continent is all of it mountainous, except the peninsula
which parts Eocky Bay from Table Bay, the extreme point of
which forms one side of Indian Tickle. All the islands — the
Isle of Ponds, the Seal Islands, and some of the small ones
which are within the bays, excepted- — are high ; the faces of all
the hills which front the sea are scarce anything but bare rocks.
The spots where any verdm-e was likely to appear were covered
with drift banks of snow ; the shore was barricaded with ice,
seven feet thick ; most of the best harbours were then not open,
and all the rest had so much loose ice driving about with every
wind as to render it dangerous to anchor therein; the water
which we had to sail through had abundance of scattered ice
floating upon it, and all towards the sea was one uniform
compact body of rough ice. How far it reached from the shore
must be left to conjecture, but I make no doubt it extended
fifty leagues at least, perhaps double that distance. There,
however, was some advantage from it, since it kept the water as
smooth as land would have done at that distance. The badness
of the weather also contributed to increase the horror of the

* Bayfield.

t Cai-twright's Sixtce)i Years on the Coast of Labrador, vol. ii. p. ^'^,
July, 1775.

CHAP, xxxii. THE ATLANTIC COAST OF LABKADOE. 185

scene. But we no sooner entered Cartwright's Harbour than
the face of nature was so greatly and suddenly changed, as if
we had shot within the tropics. There we saw neither ice nor
snow ; the hills were of a moderate height, completely covered
with spruces, larches, firs, and birch, the different hues of which
caused a pleasing variety to the eye ; and the shore was bordered
round with grass. The water, too, instead of pans of ice, was
mottled over with ducks and drakes* cooing amorously, which
brought to my remembrance the pleasing melody of the stock-
dove. That nothing might be wanting to complete the contrast,
there was not a cloud in the sky; the sun had no sooner
attained a sufficient height than he darted his rays upon us
most vehemently, which were reflected back by the glossy surface
of the water with intolerable heat, while Zephyrus played upon
us with a tropical warmth.

The scene was greatly altered on our return, for the jam ice
was not to be seen, the barricades were fallen off from the shore,
most of the snow melted, all the harbours were open, and we
had much pleasanter prospects, since we ran within several of
the largest islands, and of course saw their best sides.

The Atlantic swell on this part of the Labrador coast
is well described by Admii^al Bayfield.

I certainly never, in any part of the world, saw a heavier sea
than that which at times rolls in from the eastward into St.
Lewis Sound, even as far up as the entrance of the inlet, round
the Eiver Islands, and up the bays of the main to the westward
of them. I never saw anything more grand and wildly beautiful
than the tremendous swell, which often comes in without wind,
rolling slowly but irresistibly in from the sea as if moved by
some unseen power ; rearing itself up. like a wall of water, as it
approaches the craggy sides of the islands, moving on faster and
faster as it nears the shore, until at last it bursts with fury over
islets thirty feet high, or sends up sheets of foam and spray
sparkling in the sunbeams fifty feet up the sides of precipices.

* Eider ducks make a cooing at this time of the year, not unlike the lii'st
note of the stock-dove.

18G THE LABRADOE TENINSULA. chap, xxxii.

I can compare the roar of the surf in a calm night to nothing
less than the Falls of Niagara.

As we proceed in a north-westerly direction along a very-
rugged line of coast, with deep bays and indents, the
Great Inlet, called Esquimaux Bay, Invertoke Bay, or
Hamilton Inlet, opens to view. It is situated 250 miles
beyond the Straits of Belle Isle, the entrance being in
lat. 54° 23' N., long. 57° 25' W.

It is by far the largest of the many inlets which indent
that part of the coast. At its entrance it is upwards of
thirty miles in breadth, thence decreasing, until at the Port
of Eigolette, about fifty miles from the sea, it is reduced to
about a mile in width, after which it again expands, and
about ninety miles from the sea forms a magnificent salt-
water lake upwards of twenty miles in breadth, and fully
thirty in length. At the western extremity of the lake,
it aixain contracts to a narrow width for a short distance,
above which it forms another lake about seven luiles
wide and twenty long, when the head of the inlet is
reached. Its total length maybe taken at 150 miles, and
its mean breadth about fifteen miles, exclusive of two large
arms that join it in the neighbourhood of Eigolette, the one
running to the south-east about forty miles, and the other
having a course nearly parallel to the main bay, and a
length of sixty miles. Including these arms, the surface
covered by its waters may be taken at about 1,700
miles.

Many islands he off the entrance of the bay ; they
are also very numerous within it. Being of all sizes,
from the httle rock hardly large enough to stand upon, to
the large island many miles in extent, they add, in a

CHAP. XXXII. THE MEALY MOUNTAINS. 187

great degree, to the danger of navigating the bay in
foggy weather, for there is generally deep water close
alongside of them.

The scenery along the shores of this great arm of the
sea is of the wildest description ; high hills are seen
in every direction entirely bare of trees, particularly at
the entrance, where the country exhibits in a striking
degree that barrenness which forms such a distinguishing
feature of Labrador scenery. This ruggedness is, how-
ever, only perceived when close to the shores. -At a
distance of from four to six miles, it becomes softened by
the distance, and to the eye, deceived by the green of the
moss, it may well seem to be a cultivated country. A
closer view dispels the illusion, and reveals a land whose
ruggedness it would not be easy to exaggerate. On
ascending the bay, the landscape is improved by trees
which first appear at the bottom of small coves, and
then gradually climb up the sides of the mountains, until,
on arriving at the Port of Eigolette, the whole country is
found covered with timber, small and stunted, it is true,
but still large enough to hide the ruggedness of the ground.

Above the Port of Eigolette, and on the shores of the
Salt-water Lake mentioned above, the scenery becomes
very grand ; the range of the Mealy Mountains here
strikes the shores of the bay, leaving but a narrow strip
of land between the water and their base, from whence
they rise 1,400 to 1,500 feet in height, almost perpendicu-
larly like an immense wall, the resemblance to which is
increased by the singular evenness of the summit. The
Mealy Mountains are a range whose tops are first seen
about 100 miles to the south of Esquimaux Bay, running

18S THE LABEADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxxii.

nearly parallel to the coast. Having skirted the Salt-
water Lake for about twenty-five miles, they gradually
leave the shore, and after some distance, meeting with an-
other range coming in an opposite direction, they lose a
part of their height, till they are lost amidst the confused
mass of hills that fill the interior of the country. The
only level ground of any extent near the bay reaches
from the head of it to the foot of these mountains. It is
difficult to conceive anything more beautiful than the
tints that their summits assume when touched by the
rays of the setting sun, long after he has disappeared
from the eye, while every httle ravine and inequality in
their surface is chiselled out against the clear cold sky
with wonderful vividness and precision.*

Ungava Bay and the surrounding country has been
described by Mr. Daviesf and Mr. John McLean, J both
officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, who resided for
some years at Fort Chimo m that remote and desolate
part of the Labrador Peninsula. Mr. Davies thus describes
Ungava Bay : —

The navigation of this inlet is rendered peculiarly'difficult
and dangerous by the great violence of the currents, which run
in many places with the velocity of a rapid, and are aided by
the strength of a tide that rises upwards of sixty feet perpen-
dicular ; presenting, in this respect, a great contrast to the coast
fronting the Atlantic, where the rise seldom exceeds eight feet.

The difference may be accounted for by the fact, that this
bay lying at the mouth of the straits, and being open to the

* Notes on Esquimaux Bay and the SuiToundiug Country, by W. H. A.
Davies, Esq. Eead before the Historical Society of Qiiebec.
t Notes on Ungava Bay and its Vicinity,
t Notes of a Twenty-five Years' Service in tlie Hudson's Bay Territory.

CHAP. XXXII. TIDES IN UXGAVA BAY. 189

Dorth, the strong current which is known to set out of Davis'
Straits, along the coast of Labrador, sweeping round Resolution
Island, rushes directly into Ungava Bay, from whence it has no
outlet ; causing this prodigious rise of the tides, and the nume-
rous eddies and currents that are met with in every part of the
bay. The vast quantities of ice, also, that encumber the bay
until a late period of the summer, may likewise be traced to
this cause ; the constant current setting in to the bay preventing
the egress of the ice, until a gale of wind of sufficient force and
duration springs up from the southward, and enables the masses
of ice to stem the current, and they are driven into the straits,
where, meeting with the current that pours through them, they
are carried into the Atlantic. It is, therefore, late in August
before the bay can be said to be navigable with any safety by
vessels from sea ; and by the end of September the navigation
is again very dangerous ; not, however, so much from the ice,
as from the length and darkness of the nights, and the fury of
the wind, blowing almost constantly from the northward at this
season of the year.

Dreary and desolate as a large part of tlie coast of
Labrador appears to be iii all its aspects, its fisheries are
capable of giving lucrative employment to many thousand
people.

In the evidence given to the Committee of the Cana-
dian Legislative Assembly in 1852 by J\Ir. Mathew H.
Warren, who had been engaged in the trade and fisheries
of the Labrador for sixteen years, it was stated that
Labrador, with a sea-coast of 1,000 miles, has a population
in the fishing season of over 30,000 souls, who import all
the provisions they consume, and export to the amount of
800,000/. to 1,000,000/. annuaUy. The trade is chiefly
in the hands of the United States, Nova Scotia, and Kew-
foundland.*

* 1,000 vessels yearly are employed on tlie Labrador coast. — Governor
Hamilton.

190

THE LABRADOR PEXINSULA.

CHAP. XXXI I.

The total permanent population of tlie Canadian coast
of the Gulf between Port Neuf and Blanc Sablon was
as follows in 1852 and 1861 : —

Total population in 1861 4,413

,,1852 1^

Total increase 3,005

And the produce of the coast amounted to

1852

ISfil

Seals

. 7,325

. 4,832

Barrels of salmon

. 1,831

Quintals of cod-tisli .

. 9,980

. 51,668

Gallons of cod-oil

. 4,800

. 43,858

Value of peltry ....

. £8,200

The total value of the industry of 4,413 permanent
residents in 1862 being represented by ^277,823.

A comparison between the Canadian and tlie foreign
trade of the coast of Labrador and the Gulf shows how
utterly the fisheries had been neglected by the Government
of the Province previous to the year 1852 (see Chap.
XXXV.). It was formerly the custom for Americans called
' eggers ' to take possession of the islands on which innu-
merable sea-birds laid their eggs, and drive the inhabitants
of the coast away when they ventured to take any.
The armed schooner now maintained by the Govern-
ment has put a stop to these insolent depredations, which
were committed with impunity for a period of twenty
years.

The interior valleys of the rivers of this great Peninsula
flowing into the Gulf and Atlantic, are far from partaking
of the desolate and herbless character of the country
a few miles from the coast. Timber sufficient for fuel

caw. XXXII. THE NORTH-EAST COAST 191

for a long time to come, and also for builcling purposes,
is found about ten miles back, even in the most barren
districts. Tlie veo;etation of the north-east Atlantic coast
is thus described by Cartwright : * —

Whether it he owing to the chmate or to the soil of this
country, I will not take upon me to say ; but the fact is, that
Nature is disposed to clothe the ground with spruces and firs,
intermixing a few larches, birch, and aspens sparingly along the
edges of those woods which grow adjoining to the shores of the
bays, rivers, brooks, and ponds, where only they arrive at any
degree of perfection. Although abundance of larches will grow
upon the sides of the barren hills along the sea-coast, yet I
never saw one, in such situations, which was of any value. If,
through the carelessness of those who make fires in the woods,
or by lightning, the old spruce woods are burnt down, Indian-
tea is generally the first thing which comes up ; currants follow
next, and after them birch. As the plants of birch commonly
spring up within three or four feet of each other, they are soon
drawn up, and make most excellent hoops ; about which time
the spruces and firs will be sprung up among them to the height
of two, three, or four feet, when the Indian -tea and currants will
be nearly killed. The birches having now locked their heads so
close that the sun cannot penetrate through the foliage, and
requiring more nourishment than the ground is able to give to
each plant, they begin to show consumptive symptoms, by the
under branches dying ; and as some few of the stronger ones rob
those which are weaker, the latter decay altogether, and what
remain grow to pretty stout trees ; —yet it is almost impossible
to find one of them sound, by their not being thinned in proper
time, so as to admit the genial rays of the sun and a free
circulation of air to invigorate and fertilise the earth, and to
allow each plant a sufficient portion of land for its support.
At length the spruces and firs overtop and kill the birches ; and

* Cartwriglit's Sixteen Years ou the Coast of Labrador, vol. iii. p. 224.
1780.

192 THE LABRADOR PEOTNSULA. chap, xxxir.

when it so happens that they do not stand too thick, and the
soil suits them, they will arrive at a great size, particularly the
white spruce. Where there is a poverty of soil and they grow
close together, they are black, crabbed, and mossy, consequently
of no value ; but where the soil is pretty good, if they stand too
thick, yet they run clear and tall and attain substance suffi-
cient for shallops' oars, skiffs' oars, stage-beams, rafters, and
other purposes for which length principally is required. Had
not Nature disposed them to shoot their roots horizontally, the
adventurers in that country would have found a great difficulty
in building vessels of any kind ; for it is from the root, with
part of the trunk of the tree, that most of the timbers are cut,
and no others will supply proper stems, and ' other particular
timbers.

Among the trees of the north-east Atlantic coast,
Cartwrigiit mentions black, white, and reel spruce, larch,
silver fir, birch, and aspen. Among the luiderbrush —
willow, cherry, and mountain-ash.

Animal life was well represented in this region in
Cartwright's time, now eighty years since. He mentions
among buxls — wdiite-tailed eagle, falcons, hawks, and
owls, raven, ptarmigan, spruce-partridge, curlew, grey
plover, sand-pipers and other w^aders, geese, ducks, gulls,
divers, swallows, martins, snipe, and pigeons, and a few
species of the smaller kind.

Among beasts — ^black and white bears, reindeer, wolves,
wolverines, foxes, martens, 1}tix, otters, mink, beaver,
musk-rats, racoons, hares, rabbits, and moles.

But most abundant of all is marine life. The ocean
appears to swarm with all species common to sub-arctic
regions. Cartwright's description of the salmon and bears
on the White Bear Eiver show^s how considerable must
have been the resources of the north-east coast when he

CHAF. XXXII. SALMON FISHEEY. 19.3

trapped, and fished, and hunted, at the close of the last
century. In one year he killed, between June 23 and
July 20, 12,396 salmon, averaging 15 lbs. apiece. He
says that, if it had not been for the privateer, he is confi-
dent he should have killed 32,000 fish, or 1,000 tierces.*

The Eev. L. T. Eeichel states, in his Report of Visitation
to the Moravian Stations on the Labrador in 1861, that
at Nain he saw larches forty feet high, and farther
inland some sixty feet high. Brother Freitag showed
him a block of deal two feet in diameter, which, according
to his calculation, must have been 317 years in growing.

On the east side of Bradore Bay, near the entrance to
the Straits of Belle Isle from the Gulf, the pal£eozoic rocks
(sandstones and Hmestones of calciferous and Potsdam
age) occur. They run along the coast for nearly eighty
miles, with a breadth of ten or twelve miles, and a slope
towards the water of about sixty feet in a mile.f

* Cartwriglit's Sixteen Years on the Coast of Labrador, vol. ii. pp. 102^
345. July, 1778.

t Geological Survey of Canada.

VOL. IL

194 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxxiir.

CHAPTER XXXm.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS ON THE GULF AND
LABRADOR COASTS MORAVIAN MISSIONS.

Journal of the Bishop of Newfoundland — The first Consecration of
a Church on the Labrador — Brief History of the Church of Eng-
land on the Labrador — Resident Ministers — The Mission House
at Forteau Bay — The first Confirmation — English Point — The
first Church on the Labrador Proper, since the Destruction of
Brest, consecrated by a Bishop of the Church of England — The
Bishop of Newfoundland on the Importance of the Labrador
Fisheries — Visitation of 1861 — The Church Ship — Meeting of
the Bishops of Quebec and Newfoundland at Forteau Bay, in 18G1
— Two Bishops, assisted by three Clergymen, celebrate the Church
Service on the Labrador — Number of People belonging to the
Church of England on the North Shore of the Gulf — The Moea-
viAN Missions — Stations — Character of the Missionary Work —
Climate of these Stations.

IN liis journal of tlie voyage of visitation, on tlie coast
of Labrador, in the Church Ship Hawk, during the
summer of 1853, the Bishop of Newfoundland says: —
' I am looking forward to a third visit to the Labrador
coast, and to all the settlements on the north and eastern
side of Newfoundland. In this visit I expect to cele-
brate the first consecration of a church, and the first con-
firmations on the Labrador, and I trust to mark many
other signs and proofs of the Church's progress on that
wild and desolate shore.' *

*" Journal of the Bishop of Newfoundland,

cuAP. xxxni. HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH MISSIONS. 1V5

Before the year 1848, no bisliop of the Church of
England had ever visited the Labrador coast proper, and
no clergyman had ever gone beyond Forteau Bay, in the
Straits of Belle Isle, 10 miles east of Blanc Sablon. In
1848 the present Bishop of JSTewfomidland landed at
Forteau, and touched- at different parts of the coast as
far as Sandwich Bay. In 1849 the first clergyman (the
Eev. Algernon Gilford) was placed in residence at For-
teau.* In 1850 a second clergyman, the Eev. H. Disney,
M.A., went to reside at Battle Harbour. In 1851 the
first church was commenced, and in 1853 consecrated in
St. Francis Harbour. Since 1851 two clergymen have
been almost constantly in residence, both winter and
summer, at the places before named. In 1857, the first
Esquimaux were confirmed and admitted to the holy
communion at Battle Harbour. There are now three
churches finished and consecrated, and two others nearly
completed between Seal Island and Blanc Sablon.
There is no resident minister of any other denomination
between Blanc Sablon and Sandwich Bay, on the Atlan-
tic coast about fifty miles east of Hamilton Lilet ; and
only one Eoman Cathohc chapel, visited annually by a
priest from Quebec. At Forteau Bay and Battle Harbour
parsonages have been erected, and are now occupied by
the resident ministers — a blessing not easily to be appre-
ciated by those who have never felt the lonehness and
apprehension which sometimes comes over the sohtary

* A Wesleyan minister resided for one winter on the shores of Hamilton
Inlet about thirty years ago ; but he retired from the station, disheartened
at the manner in which he was treated by the ' whites/ and at the effects
of their bad example upon the natives.

o 2

196 THE LABEADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxxiir.

families croucliing under the bark roofs of their 'tilts' on
the Labrador.

At Quirpon, on the Newfoundland coast of the Straits
of Belle Isle, the Enghsh residents meet during the
winter season at the house of the only person who can
read the service and a sermon, and join him as they are
able in the services of the Church. To him they apply
to baptise their children, and it is not therefore to be
wondered at that they call him, though but a fisherman
like the rest, their minister.* The influence of the French
fishermen, who utterly neglect the Lord's day, and fish
and work commonly as on other days, is very pernicious ;
nevertheless the poor English people on this part of the
coast attend the service of their fisherman ' minister ' at
' scattered times ' during the winter months, and do what
they can, according to their knowledge of right and
wrong, to preserve the worship of God amongst them.

Such is a brief history of the Church on the Labrador
coast. The privations and trials of the missionaries are
not so great as one would suppose from the character of
the country. Every summer they are visited by thousands
of fishermen, who afford them the means of communicat-
ing with the outer world.

In 1853, the Bishop of JSTewfoundland writes: — 'We
gladly accepted an invitation to drink tea in the Mission
House (Forteau Bay), and, saving the wooden walls of
the room, and the side of the Canadian stove flush with
the ^vall (the body of the stove being in the kitchen, and
serving for culinary purposes as well as warmth), we
might have fancied ourselves in one of the neat parlours

* Bishop of Newfoundland 's Journal, 1853.

cuAr. xxxiii. FORTEAU BAY AND ENGLISH POINT. 197

of an English parsonage, with all its hospitalities and
comforts.' ' I doubt,' says the Bishop in describing the
evening of June 25, 1853, 'whether any part of this
world could have witnessed a more bright and beautiful
midsummer-day's evening, or a party more rejoicing in it
and for it, than ours at English Point, in Forteau Bay, on
the Labrador.' The first confirmation in this Avild country
was celebrated on June 26, 1853, and on the following-
day the first grave-yard was consecrated, at English
Point, Forteau Bay, Tlie grave-yard was temporarily
fenced with old seal-nets, characteristic of the industry
and resources of the country. In the rear of English
Point are four beautiful lakes, which stretch twelve miles
into the interior, and communicate with a wooded country.
Currant bushes and other fruit-bearing plants are nume-
rous a short distance from the shore.

This settlement promises to become of importance in
the course of a few years. Although the shores are both
barren and mountainous, yet the lake affords valuable
means of communication witli the interior. Eed Bay,
thirty miles from Forteau, formed, in 1853, the limits of
Mr. GifTord's mission: here at that time a grave-yard was
consecrated, and wood for building a church collected.

It was on Sunday, July 10, 1853, that the first church
on the Labrador was consecrated by the Bishop of New-
foundland. Is it not a marvel that during the past century
— which has seen the Labrador coast visited by sometimes
1,000 vessels a year, carrying 30,000 men, for the purpose
of gathering food and luxuries for such Cathohc countries
as France, Spain, Portugal, and Austria — the first Christian
church on the coast of Labrador proper should, since the

198 THE LABRADOE PENINSULA. chap, xxxiii.

destruction of Brest, have been consecrated by a Bishop
of the Church of England ?

The Enghsh employed upwards of 100 whalers and
sealers prior to 1775 on the coast of Labrador. In 1829,
609 vessels were employed on the coast ; in 1831, 700 ;
and in 1851, upwards of 1,000 sea-going vessels. The
resources of the sea are sufficient to support three times
that number ; and the fate of nations may yet be deter-
mined by tlie fishermen sailors nurtured on those seas,
which have been until recently utterly neglected by the
people who ought to cherish them most.

In 1861 the Bishop of Newfoundland started on his
annual visitation from St. John's, on June 27, in the
Church Ship. The Bishop visited in succession Battle
Harbour, St. Francis Harbour, Square Islands, Dead
Islands, Venison Tickle, Seal Island, Ship Harbour, Fox
Harbour, and Cape Charles. There is a consecrated church
at Battle Harbour and St. Francis Harbour, and at Seal
Island a store is used as a church, but at all places service
was performed on board the well-named Church Ship.

The change and improvement among the resident in-
habitants are in several cases already very perceptible. At
Fox Harbour there is a small settlement of Esquimaux, who
are now orderly and industrious Christian people, fruits
of the faithful labours of the missionary at Battle Harbour,
who has resided eight years on the coast. At Forteau
Bay the late Bishop of Quebec met the Bishop of
Newfoundland (July 23) just on the confines of their
extensive dioceses. The Bishop of Quebec had been
engaged for some Aveeks in passing from settlement to
settlement along the Canadian north shore of the Gulf in
such boats and vessels as he could procure at each resting-

CHAP, xxxiii. MOEAVIAIi MISSIOXS. 199

place, and depending upon the settlers for liis food and
lodging. Their lordships were deeply gratified at this
meeting, and the mission church at Forteau, on the wild
coast of Labrador, witnessed the services of our Church
administered by two of its bishops and three clergymen.
It is not probable that such an event will occur again for
years to come.

I had the pleasure of meeting with the Bishop of
Quebec at Mingan, and travelhng in the same steamer as
far as Quebec. From his lordship and his chaplain, tlie
Eev. A. Mountain, I learned that a census had been taken
of all the residents belonging to the Church of England
on the Canadian north shore of the Gulf. The total
number of such residents west of Blanc Sablon amounted
to 224. (See Appendix No. VII. for Statistics.)

The Moeavian Missions.

The stations now occupied by these exemplary mission-
aries are situated between Hamilton Inlet and Cape
Chudleigh, the most northern point of Ungava Bay.
Their names and positions are as foUows : — Nain (lat. 56°
30'), Ok-kak.(lat. 57° 31'), Hebron (lat. 58°), and Hopedale.
At each station there is a church, store, dwelling-house
for the missionaries, and workshops for the native trades-
men. The object of the Brethren is to collect the
Esquimaux in villages about them, and besides mstructing
them in the truths of Christianity, they seek to teach those
simple mechanical arts which may contribute to their
comfort and wean them from the wandering life to which
they are so prone. The natives are lodgers in liouses
built after the model of their igloes, being the best
adapted to the climate and circumstances of a country

200 THE LABKADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxxiii.

where scarcely any fuel is to be had; the missionaries
warm their houses by means of stoves. Whatever pro-
visions the natives who are attached to a station collect
are placed at the disposal of the missionaries, and by them
distributed in such a manner as to be of the most general
benefit. By thus taking the management of this impor-
tant matter into their own hands, the consequences of
waste and improvidence are guarded against, and the
means of subsistence secured.*

In years of great scarcity the Brethren open their own
stores, having always an ample supply of provisions on
hand, so that through their fostering care the natives
never suffer absolute want. The Brethren have also
goods for trading, which they dispose of at a moderate
profit ; the money so accruing is thrown into the general
funds of the society.f

Nain and Ok-kak have each four missionaries. At
Hebron and Hopedale there are three in permanent
residence. The total number of Brethren on the coast is
stated to be 28. A ship annually arrives at Nain from
Europe with supplies, and to collect the produce of their
trade with the Esquimaux. The number of Esquimaux
receiving instruction from them on the Labrador and in
Greenland is stated to be about 1,300. Some idea of the
hardships these devoted men have to endure may be
gathered from the fact that the mean annual temperature
at Nain is 22° 52'. At Ok-kak it is 27° 86', and at
Hopedale 27° 82'.

* For a brief history of the Moravian missions on the Labrador, see
Appendix No. VII.

t Notes on a Twenty-five Years' Service in the Hudson's Bay Terri-
tories. By John McLean.

20]

CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE SEAL FISHERY.

Excitement of the Seal Fishery — Migrations of the Seal — Habits
of the Seal — Capabilities of the Seal — The Harbour Seal —
Cause of Wars between the Montagnais and Esquimaux — Seal-
fishing off Natashquan — An Indian Seal Hunt — Perils of the Chase

— The Frozen Himters — The Lost Acadians — Seal Nets — The
Seal Watcher — A Stationaiy Seal Fishery — The Autumn Fishing
— Anchor Ice — The Phenomena of Anchor Ice in the St. Lawrence
and other Canadian Rivers — The Spring Fishing — Pale Seal Oil

— Seal-hunting in the Atlantic — Great Value of the Newfound-
land Seal Fishery — Value of the Seal to the Esquimaux.

THE fishermen and Indians who live on the coasts of
the gulf or estuary of the St. Lawrence, and on the
shores of Newfoundland, watch for the coming of the seals
in November and December with as much anxiety as the
Swampy Crees of Hudson's Bay or the Nasquapees of
Ungava listen for the first note of the Canada goose.
Although the chase of this marine wolf is attended with
incredible dangers, it is so remunerative and so exciting
during the dull monotony of winter, that great numbers
engage in it every year. But while many earn a com-
fortable hvehhood, and a few make their fortunes, not
a season passes without claiming its victims on the
illimitable ice-floes, which carry them far away from land
to suffer a hngering death by exposure and starvation.
Some are "wrecked amidst tlie vast ghstening fields which

202 THE LABEADOR PENINSULA. cuap. xxxiv.

open and close without warning, receive tlieir victims and
crush them in their embrace in the stormy swell of the
Gulf.

The migrations of the seal are very singular, and pur-
sued apparently with the same undeviating instinct which
guides the water-fowl in their annual journeys.

The Gulf of St. Lawrence forms the winter quarters of
a vast number of seals, who come through the Straits
of Belle Isle from Davis' Strait and the North Atlantic in
the month of November, while an equal number seek the
ice-floes north-east of Newfoundland, and are carried
toAvards the Grand Banks.

Before the ice is formed, they ' hug ' the shore either of
Labrador or Newfoundland, penetrating into all the bays
and never going far from land. During the colder winter
months they strike into the Gulf, looking for ice-floes, on
which they give birth to their young in March, and con-
tinue for two or three months. In May and June they
congregate together near the coasts, and return to the
main ocean for the summer.* Seals are most powerful

* ' Tlie seal or sea-calf is a carnivorous and amphibious animal, belonging
to the order mammalia. There are several varieties, three of which are
peculiarly deserving of attention : these are the Harbour Seal (Phoca vitu-
lina), whose average length is three feet ; the Harp Seal (Phoca Grcenlamlica),
whose average length is five feet ; and the Hooded Seal {Phoca leonina),
which is sometimes nine feet long, with a movable sack on its head, formed
of several folds of skin, with which it can cover its eyes and its muzzle at
will.

' The two latter varieties assemble together in herds, and are migratory.
The harbour seals appear to live apart, and are to be met with in the same
places at all seasons of the year.

'Seals have round elongated bodies, gradually diminishing in size from the
chest to the tail, and thickly covered with short smooth hair ; their lower
extremities are short, and end in webbed feet, something like the fins of the
cetacea, while the upper extremities, which are longer, but very strong and
muscular, and terminate in webbed hands^ resemble the fins of fishes.

CHAP. XXXIV. MIGKATIOXS OF THE SEAL. 203

swimmers, and can force their way up very formidable
rapids in rivers. We found tliem hunting sahnon and
trout at the foot of the first falls of the Moisie, above
the Grand Rapids, which have a fall of fifty feet in three
miles, and would appear to present an insuperable obstacle
to such an apparently unwieldy animal as the seal.

The Harbour Seal, which is so common at the mouths

' Owing to tliis formation, tlie seal is the best swimmer among the mam-
malia, with the exception of the cetacea ; and it succeeds in catching the
most active fish that are known, and, among others, the sahnon, of which it
seems to be very fond, and against which it wages a deadly war in the
estuaries of rivers.

* Almost all kinds of seals couple in Jime ; and the females bring forth
their young (seldom more than one at a time) in ]March, on floating fields of
ice. The yoimg are born with white hair, and remain on the ice as long as
they are suckled by their mothers. At three or four weeks old they can
live in the water ; but for some months they continue to foUow their
motliers, who partly provide for their support, and defend them against the
attacks of other creatures.

' Seals are fond of approaching the shore and landing on sandy beaches or
flat rocks, to bask in the sun ; but at the slightest noise, and especially if
they perceive the fishermen, they make for the sea, and disappear under its
waters. Nevertheless, if they are taken yoimg they are easily tamed, espe-
cially the common seal ; and they attach themselves to their masters, whom
they follow about everywhere, and for whom they seem to entertain an
affection as lively as that of the dog.

' The herds of seals that frequent the Gulf of St. Lawrence arrive there in
the month of November. They come chiefly through the Straits of Belle
Isle. They keep very close in to the coasts either of Labrador or of New-
foundland, penetrating into aU the bays, and not going out far from land
when doubling the points and capes. They often stop to sport when they
find a favourable place for the pm-pose. It is then they are seen to dive
repeatedly, coming up again almost immediately, and to roll themselves
about, and beat the water with their hands. The fishermen call this brew-
ing, and hence the name of " brewer," given to those kinds found on our
coasts.

'In winter they spread themselves through the Gulf in search of icebergs,
on which they live for several mouths. In the months of May and June
the herds of seals reappear on our coasts ; but then they pursue an opposite
course to that of the preceding autumn. Afterwards they go out of the
Gulf into the main ocean, and probably repair to Hudson's Bay and the
Arctic Seas.' — Report of Pierre Furtin, Esq.

204 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxxiv.

of rivers on the coast, often ascends far above tide- water ;
and it appears to thrive equally well, for a time, in salt,
brackish, or sweet water. These animals have been killed
in the St. Lawrence as high as Montreal,* and no ordinary
rapid is capable of arresting their progress where salmon
or other kinds of fish are abundant. These harbour seals
are killed with swan shot : a very slight wound is sufficient
to destroy hfe ; and as they sink the moment they are
dead, it requires some skill to shoot a seal and paddle the
canoe towards it in time to seize the animal before it
sinks.

Seals have been the chief cause of the wars between
the Montagnais and Esquimaux of the Labrador Penin-
sula, and most of the conflicts between these people have
taken place at the estuaries of rivers known to be favour-
ite haunts of the seal.

The names of some of the capes on the North Coast are
derived from the habits of this animal, as Nat-ash-quan,
' Where the seals land,' opposite the north point of Anti-
costi, a spot famous for the vast numbers of seals which
are taken off the point. In 1857, about the end of April,
Mr. Vignault sailed in his schooner of forty tons, and
manned by seven men, out of Natashquan Harbour ; he

* The seal is a very old. frequenter of tlie Gulf of St. Lawrence. In past
geologic ages this animal sported in the seas washing the base of Montreal
niountam, 140 feet above the present level of the ocean. In one of the clay-
pits on Coteau Baron, near to Montreal, the pelvic bones of a seal, accom-
panied by sea-shells and by fragments of white cedar, have been discovered.
In another pit at the same altitude, the entire skeleton of the Greenland seal
{Phoca GramhuuUca), a species still living in the Gulf, has been disinterred.
Above the plateau, where the bones of the seals were found, well-marked
sea-mai'gins occur on the sides of the mountain, at elevations of 220, 386,
440, and 470 feet above the present sea-level, with marine shells up to the
last-mentioned heights. — Geological Survey of Canada.

CHAP, xxxiv. HUNTING SEALS ON ICE-FLOES. 205

soon found floating fields of ice converted into vast seal
' meadows,' not far from Point JSTatasliquan, and in eight
days lie killed 600 seals. At tlie same time, and only a
few miles off, a brig from Newfoundland took 3,000.
When the Indians of the Lower St. Lawrence perceive
any seals reposing upon the fields of ice which winds and
tides bring into the estuary, they instantly launch their
canoes if the sea is not too rough, and endeavour to ap-
proach the ice-floe without alarming them. Sometimes
it happens that the excitement of the chase carries them
too far from land, and a breeze springing up bears them
rapidly away from the shore, and beyond all hope of
return. If not taken ofi* by a fishing schooner, they are
frequently lost ; but in calm weather they will venture
many miles from land in their frail bark canoes.

In the winter of 1859 four men and two squaws set
out from Seven Islands Bay in pursuit of seals, which they
discerned on a floe of ice a couple of miles from the
coast. The day was calm, and the surface of the Gulf
almost without a ripple. In the distance dense clouds of
steaming mist rose from the warm waters into the cold
and biting winter air, some degrees below zero. But the
day was favourable for sport, and the Indians gleefully
paddled to the nearest floe. Breaking it, they dragged
their canoes quickly across, and paddled to the next floe,
and so on until they neared the one on which the herd of
seals were basking in the sun. They reached the floe, and
succeeded in kilhng several seals ; but on looking round,
they found to their horror that the floe of ice had noise-
lessly separated into two parts, and a lane of water about
fifteen or twenty feet broad akeady divided them from

2C6 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. cuap. xxxiv.

their canoes. Without a moment's hesitation, one man
made a spring, and succeeded in leaping the cliasm ; a
second followed, but, not quite clearing the gap, fell into
the water, and as his head came in contact with the low
wall of ice, he was stunned, fell backwards, and sank
before his companions could catch hold of his clothes.

The squaws and remaining men were relieved from
their perilous position by the Indian who had succeeded
in leaping across the gap. He brought the canoes round
to the floe, and they quickly took in the cargo of frozen
seals, and in sadness returned to their lodges.

A captain of a small sailing schooner told me a very
painful story of the fate of several seal-hunters a year or
two ago, on a floe of ice near Anticosti.

' I started from Bic in March,' he said, ' and reached
Anticosti about the 20th ; there were large fields of ice
between us and the north shore, and seals in plenty.
We got on the ice and killed a score or more, and were
just sailing away to another field, when one of the hands
called my attention to a floe about a mile from us, on
which a black object was visible. They took it for a
bear, but with my glass I saw it was motionless, and too
large for any animal in these waters. I put the helm
down and bore towards it ; we could make nothing out
of the black mass which, half covered with snow, lay still
on the ice, about a couple of hundred yards from the
edge. I went with three men towards it, and found two
Indians and two squaws huddled together on the lee
side of a small mound of ice they had collected together
to shelter them from the wind. They were frozen fast —
all stone dead. No doubt they had been blown off" the

CHAP. XXXIV. SEAL MEADOWS. 207

shore, and drifted about here and there on this stormy
gulf until they lost hope, and, Indian fashion, huddled
together, looked death in the face, and met him, sure
enough, surrounded by his worst terrors, starvation and
cold.

' My men took it sorely to heart ; it discouraged them.
They durst not venture far on the ice after that ; and the
sight of those poor frozen Indians lost me many a fine
seal.'

On March 24, 1857, large ice-fields, driven by the
N. and ISTW. wmd, grounded on the coast of Amherst
Island, one of the Magdalen group, and were found to
be a vast ' seal meadow.' Not less than 4,000 of these
animals, nearly all young, were killed in five days. But,
as too frequently happens in these successful hunts, the
excitement of the chase and the desire of gain lure the
daring seal-hunters too far away from land ; a land wind
sprang up and carried the ice out to sea before two of
the hunters could cross the field from the outer edge and
reach the shore. Nig-ht came on before boats could be
launched and start in pursuit ; the land wind increased to
a breeze, and when morning dawned, the field of ice was
miles away from the shore with a stormy sea between,
through which no boat dare venture.

Besides winter seal-hunting on the ice of the Gulf, these
animals are taken during their migrations in spring and
autumn by means of nets.

Seal-nets are made of very strong hempen cord, although
not more than the twelfth part of an inch thick. The
meshes are eight inches square, and will admit the head
and neck of the seal. Some nets are more than 100

208 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. cuap. xxxiv.

fathoms long, by 10 fathoms wide ; and several nets,
placed together as advantageously as possible for the
pm^pose of taking seals when they are migrating in herds
in the spring or in the autumn, form what the fishermen
call a set of nets. Some sets of nets in use on the Gulf
coasts are of great value, costing 1,200/. for cord alone,
and requiring numerous anchors and cables to keep them
in their proper places after they are set.

The usual time for the seals to pass near the shore on
their migratory voyage being known, the nets are placed
in position a few days before. One of the fishermen is
posted as a watcher or sentry on a rock, a httle in advance
of the fishery, to give notice of the approach of herds of
seals ; and the moment there are any in the fishery, a signal
is given, and the fishermen hasten to raise, by means of
a capstan, the net sunk by leaden weights to the bottom
of the water at the entrance of the fishery. Witli this
they close the opening through which the seals made their
ingress ; and as soon as the seals are fairly imprisoned, the
fishermen jump into their boats and enter the fishery,
shouting and beating the water with their paddles, and
sometimes firing off guns. The frightened seals, trying to
escape, dive down and run their heads into the meshes,
which are kept always open by means of cables roiuid the
borders of the nets, hove taut by capstans. As soon as all
the seals are caught in the meshes, the men underrun the
nets, knock on the head with iron clubs those that are
not strangled, and carry them all on shore in their canoes.*
The autumn seal fishery takes place on the coast of

* Captaiu Fortin, Official Report.

CHAP. XXXIV. ANCHOR ICE. 209

Labrador at the end of November, and in the montli of
December, and is both dangerous and precarious by reason
of the severity of the cold at that season, and of the
moving ice-fields which often break through the sets, and
tear the nets, if care is not taken to take them up. The
seals are no sooner taken out of the water than they become
frozen, and in that state they are put into stores, and it is
not until the spring, when the warm air has softened them,
that they are cut up, and their fat melted in iron pots.

Occasionally the rather curious phenomenon of nets
freezinsj under water occurs on the Labrador coast. Mr.
Samuel Robertson, who resides at Sparr Point, Bradore
Bay, says : ' I have seen a net, sixty feet deep, every mesh
encased with ice like a rushlight; hawsers, chains, and
other larger matters, with a proportionably greater crust.
When this happens, if the net is not taken up immediately,
it is lost ; for it soon floats like a cork, though ever so
heavily sunk, and then forms a solid block of ice. I have
known the bottom at a depth of sixty or seventy feet
frozen, and resembling a limestone flat ; and all the
anchors of a seal fishery, whose flukes were fixed in the
sand so firmly that no purchase could draw them out.
I have seen, on another occasion, when the fluke of an
anchor was only partially buried, when drawn out, the
palm brought up a piece of frozen sand, as angular as a
stone, and nearly as hard as a piece of Bristol sandstone.'

Anchor ice is a common phenomenon in the St. Law-
rence, and some very interesting observations have been
made with regard to it by T. C. Keefer, Esq., C. E.* It

The average winter level of tlie St. Lawrence^ opposite Montreal, is
about fifteen feet above the summer one, but the extreme range from the
VOL. II. P

210 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxxiv.

is very probable that this form of ice lias been instru-
mental in producing great changes in the valleys of
northern rivers.

lowest summer level has, at tlie taking or departure of the ice, sometimes

attained a maximum of twenty-five feet In the latter part of

January 1857, after a cold ' term ' of unexampled severity and duration —
long after the ice had taken, opposite the city, and when, according to all
previous experience, no further rise was to be apprehended, either above or
below the rapids, until the ' break-up ' in the spring — the river, above the
Lachine Rapids (where it is always imfrozen), rose suddenly four to five feet,
pouring an Arctic current down the aqueduct of the new water- works. A
few feet more of elevation would have sent the river over its banks, and the
consequences might have been most serious.

Such intense cold was followed, as is usual, by a rapid rise of temperature,
whereupon the water fell about two feet, bat thereafter remained for weeks
at least two feet above its ordinary level.

There is a tradition of something similar having occurred about seventy
years ago, but this was not heard of until after the irruption ; all recent ex-
perience and enquiry going to show that, after the ice has taken, the water in
this reach lowers gradually with slight fluctuations until the spring.

This flushing above the rapids was independent of any movement of the
fixed ice below, either opposite Montreal or in the Laprairie Basin, the
levels of which remained imdisturbed. Another peculiai'ity was the absence
of any visible cause ; no ice had descended, or was descending, and on the
surface nothing but blue water was to be seen. The continuous descent
(for days and weeks before the river is frozen over above the city) of large
masses of ice, which being arrested below would dam back the water, is
sufficient to account for the rise at Montreal ; but in this case there was no
descending ice, the Lake St. Lotus being frozen over just above Lachine,
and the narrow bordages, in the intervening distance of about four miles
to the rapids, remaining in situ. What, then, caused this mysterious and
alarming elevation of the river in the dead of winter, when there had
been no rain or thaw, and while all its tributaries were sealed by intense
frost ?

The St. Lawrence was undoubtedly raised in its bed by the deposition of
' anchor ' or ' ground ' ice upon its rocky and stony bottom.

Anchor ice is formed only in open running water. It never forms where
the surface is covered with stationary ice, although it is often foimd in banks
under the solid ice below rapids or currents of open water. In consequence
of the difliculty and danger of sounding in such situations, and in such
severe weather, the limit to the depth of water under which it will form is
not easily ascertained ; but there is no reason to doubt that it forms upon
the whole bed of the St. Lawrence, wherever there is open water.

It does not appear that great or continued cold is necessary to its forma-

CHAP, xxxiv. KETURXS OF THE SEAL FISHERY. 211

The spring fishing is carried on in nearly the same
way as in autumn, with this difference, that the entrance
of the fishery is to tlie westward, because then the seals
are going out of the Gulf.

The fat of seals taken in the spring is softer and more
mellow than that of those taken in the autumn ; it is
melted in the sun in large wooden tubs, and forms the
pale seal oil of commerce.

The spring and autumn seal-fishings are carried on
along the Canadian shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence,
from Blanc Sablon Bay to Cape Wliittle, and yield the
fishermen annually from 5,000 to 7,000 seals, of the value
of from 16.S. to 21. IO5. each.

Seals are not taken in nets on the coast of Gaspe or
the Magdalen Islands, or on that part of the north shore
which lies between Cape Whittle and the Ptiver St.

tion in all situations, as it has been found in brooks immediately after tbe
first frost and before lake ice lias become safe for travel ; it is also one of the
earliest formations upon those portions of shoals and rapids barely covered
with water. But in the deeper water above the head of rapids its abundant
formation (as indicated by its rising and coveiing the surface) occm's only
after several days of a temperature considerably below zero.

In the little which has been wi'itten upon the subject of anchor ice, it has
been doubted both that it is formed upon the bottom, and that ice so formed
rises to the surface ; or whether the anchor ice seen upon the surface
was either formed or had rested upon the bottom. Among practical
men, millwrights and lumbermen, who have been puzzled by the pheno-
mena attendant upon it, there is similar diversity of opinion. It has,
however, been observed in situations where it would seem impossible that
it could have been deposited unless formed where found. It has been
found upon smooth rock in rapid water ten feet in depth ; and it has been
seen to burst up from the flat rock bed of the St. Lawrence, at the
head of the Longiie Sault Eapids, where there is a depth of twelve feet. I
have seen it rising to a surface already nearly covered with it, and at the
same time have felt it with a pole upon the stony bottom in upwards of
twelve feet of water. — Notes on Anchor Ice, by T. C. Keefer, Esc[., C.E.
Read before the Canadian Institute, February 1862.

p 2

212 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxxiv.

Lawrence, because these animals do not approach the
shore in herds at tliese places.

Seals are not only taken in nets near the shore, and on
the ice-fields in the middle, of the Gulf of St. Lawrence,
but the vast floes in the broad Atlantic, at a considerable
distance from Newfoundland and the Island of Cape
Breton, are annually visited by thousands of seal-hunters.

The expeditions that are fitted out for this kind of
fishing, or rather of hunting, require to start soon after
the young ones are dropped, in order to find them still
on the ice-fields ; for, once in the water, seals, whether
young or old, can set the most practised fisherman at
defiance, and it is useless to attempt to pursue them.

Newfoundland seahng, as it is called, is carried on on
a large scale. The vessels employed in it are brigs and
topsail schooners, sohdly built, well strengthened within
to enable them to resist pressure from the ice, and plated
with iron forward to prevent their being cut through by
it. They have crews of from twenty to sixty men, and
half a score of small boats, which the men drag after them
on the ice, and make use of to cross the open water
dividing the fields or bergs from each other. This branch
of industry has attained to considerable proportions in
that island. Nearly 400 vessels, measuring more than
35,000 tons, and carrying 10,000 men, leave the ports of
Newfoundland in the months of March and April, for the
purpose of hunting seals on the ice-fields wherever they
can be found ^ and the profits derived from these
dangerous and fatiguing expeditions are often very great
and sometimes even enormous.

In the whole circle of human employments, few or

CHAP. XXXIV. SEAL-HUXTING. 213

none are more exciting or perilous than the hunting of
seals on the ice-floes of the Atlantic or Gulf of St.
Lawrence. While the vessels are absent, the greatest
anxiety exists in the ports of departure, and the most
distressing rumours prevail at times. A full month some-
times elapses before the arrival of a single vessel, and
eveiy imaginable cause is assigned by alarmed families
and friends for the delay of tidings from the seahng-
grounds.

North-east gales drive the ice towards the shore, and
frequently produce fearful disasters to both life and pro-
perty. In 1843 the loss of vessels was very considerable,
and several entire crews perished. Some vessels were
wrecked in 1849, and some in 1852. The year 1827
was uncommonly prosperous. Forty-one vessels laden
with seals arrived at St. John's in a single week. They
caught 69,814 of the objects of their search. One of
these vessels took upwards of 3,000 in six days, and
another, still more successful, about 3,500 in the same
time. The intense excitement which attended the slaug-liter
of such large numbers in so short a space can be readily
imagined.*

The annual proceeds of the seal fishery are very p;reat :
Newfoundland alone exports, on an average, half a million
skins, besides nearly 3,000,000 gallons of oil, worth about
330,000/. The number of seal-skins exported from New-
foundland during the present century exceeds 20,000,000,
and in 1844, a favourable year, 685,530 were taken.

The Indians on the Gulf coast feed on the harbour

* Report on the Principal Fisheries of the American Seas, by Lorenzo
Sabine.

214 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxxiv.

seal during the summer months : its flesh is not un-
palatable, and it often forms the chief support of the
poor Montagnais and Micmacs during a large part of the
year.

The seal is, ^^a?^ excellence^ the main stay of the Esqui-
maux. It is of the same importance to this singular
Uttoral people as the reindeer is to the Nasquapee or the
bison to the Sioux. The seal furnishes them with
clothes, with food, and with oil for their stone lamps.

215

CHAPTER XXXV.

THE POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OF THE FISH-
ERIES OF THE GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE, LABRADOR, AND
NEWFOUNDLAND.

Importance attached to the Fisheries by different Nations —
France — Louisburg' — Importance of the Fisheries to France as a
Nursery for Seamen — The First Siege of Louisburg — The Second
Siege of Louisbm-g — The Position of Louisburg — Bounties paid
by the Americans to their Fishermen — Influence of Bounties on
the United States Fishing Interests — Annual Value of the United
States Fisheries — Convention with the Emperor of the French —
Condemnatory Resolutions of the Newfoundland House of Assembly
— Brief Flistory of the Newfoundland Fisheries — Importance of
' Bait ' — Illegal Purchase of ' Bait ' — Present Annual French Ton-
nage employed on the Bank Fishery — Bounties paid by France —
Testimony of a French Oflicial respecting the Value of the North
American Fisheries — Testimony of a United States State Docu-
ment in relation to the North American Fisheries — Division of
the Fisheries into Sea and River Fisheries — The Value of the
Herring Fishery — Room for Improvement — Annual Loss from
bad Curing — Herrings exported — Migratory Habits of the Herring
not understood — The Mackerel Fishery — In the Hands of Ame-
ricans — Great Importance of this Fishery — Value to the New
England States — Mode in which the New-Englanders pursue
the Mackerel Fishery — Neglect of this Fishery by Canadians and
New-Brunswickers — The Cod Fishery — Its Value to Newfound-
land — The Salmon Fishery — Former Productiveness of the Cana-
dian Rivers — Importance of the proposed Intercolonial Railway
to the Extension of the Gulf Fisheries — Use of Ice — Ice Wealth
of the North — The Ice Trade — Ice and fresh Fish throughout
the Union — Leasing of Canadian Salmon Rivers — Necessity for
rapid Communication with the Salmon Rivers, &c. — Salmon-
fishing on the Moisie — On the Godbout — Aggregate Value of the
British American Fisheries — Exports from the Provinces —
The Canadian Fisheries — Injuries and Insolence of some American

216 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxxv.

Fishermen — Artificial Oyster Beds — Great Value of the Oyster
Trade in the United States — Oyster Beds in France — Inactivity
of the French Canadians with respect to the Fisheries — Canadian
Bounties — Suggestions for Encouragement to the Canadian
Fisheries.

THE commercial and political importance of the North
American fisheries has been recognised for more
than 300 years. They have attracted, at different periods,
the earnest attention of the Spanish, Portuguese, French,
English, and American Governments, and have been made
the subject of special articles in treaties after the termi-
nation of long, expensive, and sanguinary wars.

The navy of France was sustained during the first half
of the eighteenth centmy by the fisheries of North
America ; and without this admirable nursery for sailors,
France would not have been able to man the tithe of her
fieets at that time. We have only to glance at Louisburg,
and the gold lavished on that splendid harbour and once
splendid fortress on the Island of Cape Breton, to feel
sensible of the vast importance with which the North
American fisheries were invested by France at an early
period ; and in the grasping pohcy of Louis Napoleon
during the last five or six years, with respect to fishing
rights on the coast of Newfoundland, we have a proof
that the anxiety to retain and improve them as a nursery
for seamen still exists. The fortifications of Louisburg
cost the French 30,000,000 hvi'cs, and when taken by
the British forces from New England, under Sir WiUiam
Peperall, for the first time, in 1745, the annual value of
the fisheries to the French was nearly 1,000,000/. sterhng,
independently of their being the best nursery for seamen
that the world ever saw.

CHAP. XXXV. FORTRESS OF LOUISBURG, 217

It is very remarkable, says McGregor,* that in all our
treaties with France the fisheries of North America were
made a stipulation of extraordinary importance. The
ministers of that power, at all times able negotiators,
well knew the value of the fisheries, not merely in a
commercial view, but because they were necessary to
provide their navy with that physical strength which
would enable them to cope with other nations.

The policy of the French, from their first planting
colonies in America, insists particularly on raising seamen
for their navy by means of the fisheries. The nature of
the French fishery was always such, that one-third, or at
least one-fourth, of the men employed in it were ' green
men,' or men who were never before at sea ; and by this
trade they bred up from 4,000 to 6,000 seamen annually.

Those who negotiated on the part of Great Britain
could not possibly have understood the eminent poHtical
and commercial value of tlie boons thus unnecessarily
conceded to France and America.

With France the case was mdely different. Every
Frenchman acquainted with the history of his country
knew well tliat the sun of then* naval splendour set on
the day that Louisburg, the emporium of their fisheries,
was taken. Neither were the Americans so ignorant of
the rich treasures which abounded on the coasts of British
America as to allow the favourable moment for obtaining
a share in the fisheries to escape.

Louisburg was built to a great extent of bricks brought
from France. Its walls were defended by more than
200 pieces of artillery. During the siege 9,000 cannon-

* McGregor's British America.

218 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxxv.

balls and 600 bombs were discharged by the assailants,
and the city was taken on the forty-ninth day after in-
vestment. The conquest of the city was regarded by
Smollett as the most important achievement of the war of
1744 ; and the First Lord of the Admiralty at the time
declared that, ' if France was master of Portsmouth, he
would hang the men who would give Cape Breton in
exchange.'

Louisburg was restored to the French at the peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 ; but in the succeeding war it
was again invested in 1759, and Louisburg fell a second
time before a force which consisted of twenty-nine ships
of the line, eighteen frigates, a large fleet of smaller
vessels, and an army of 14,000 men.

Louisburg may yet rise again ; the site of the ancient
fortress and capacious harbour is 200 miles nearer to
Europe than Halifax. The Island of Cape Breton is
separated fi'om the mainland by the Gut of Canso, not
more than 900 yards broad in its narrowest part ; across
this strait a steam railway ferry could always keep up
communication with the mainland, and yet leave free
this valuable entrance to the Gulf.*

The political importance of the North American

* Tlie Gut of Canso, separating Breton Island from Nova Scotia, is fre-
quented by a great number of vessels, amounting to several thousands
annually, who pass tbrough it from the Atlantic to the Gulf of St. Lawi-ence.
Admiral Bayfield considers it by far the most preferable route for home-
vrard-bound vessels trading between the southern ports of the Gulf and
Great Britain, as it affords a safe anchorage until an opportunity offers for
sailing with the first fair wind. The length of the passage of the Gut is 14^
miles, and its least breadth 900 yards. The depth of water is seldom less
than 15 fathoms. Cape Porcupine, on the western shore, rises 640 feet
above the sea, and is a very remarkable object. The rocks on each side
belong to the lower carboniferous series.

CHAP. XXXV. AMERICAX BOUNTIES TO FISHERMEN. 219

fisheries to France and the United States has been the
cause of the extraordinary efforts which have been made
(on all occasions of the renewal of treaties by those
powers), not only to maintain the position formerly won
by them, but to take every conceivable advantage of
this great nursery for their seamen.

The Government of the United States have paid not
less than ,^12,944,998 for bounties to vessels engaged in
the fisheries since the commencement of the Eepublic ; *
and the average amount now paid annually by the
Government is very nearly ,^340,000. So great is the
impetus which this system of bounties has given to the
American fishermen, that while in 1795 only 37,000 tons
of shipping were employed in the cod fishery, at present
there are upwards of 110,000 tons engaged in this lucra-
tive business.

The following tables show the great value of the
American fisheries, the greater part of this extraordinary
annual income being derived from the inexhaustible sup-
phes in British American waters. The chief returns are
from a recent annual report of the Secretary of State,
United States : —

UNITED STATES FISHERIES.

WHALE FISHEKY.

Vessels employed 661

Tonnage 203,062

* The bounty, according to tlie laws of 1855, is as follows : —
A vessel between 35 tons receives $S 50 per ton
A vessel more tban 30 tons „ 4 00 „

The small State of Massachusetts has received, since the declaration of
independence, bounties to the amount of ^7,926,273 ; and Maine, contiguous
to New Brunswick and Canada, the sum of ^4,157,050.

220 THE LABKADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxxv.

Capital invested ^23,436,226

Persons employed ..... 16,370

Annual value in 1850, ^12,040,804 ; in 1860, ;^7,521,588.

COD AND MACKEBEL FISHEET, ETC., NOT INCLITDING OTSTEBS.

Vessels employed . . . . . . 2,280

Tonnage . . . .' . . . 175,306

Capital invested ;^7,280,000

Persons employed ...... 19,150

Annual value in 1850, ^8,730,000 ; in 1800, 1^5,020,334.

The convention between Her Majesty and the Emperor
of the French relative to the rights of fishery on the
coast of Newfoundland and the neighbouring coasts,
signed at London, January 14, 1857, created alarm in
Kewfoundland, and much excitement and anxiety in
the other British American provinces interested in the
fisheries. In March 1857, the Speaker of the House
of Assembly, Newfoundland, addressed an urgent letter
to the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Canada, rela-
tive to this convention,* expressing the opinion that the

* Su", — I have the honour, by direction of the House of Assembly of
this colony, to transmit you the following documents, involving a question
which they desii'e to bring under the consideration of the House of Assembly
of your province ; copy of convention between Great Britain and France,
relating to fisheries on the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador ; copy of
Secretary of State's despatch accompanying convention ; correspondence
between Her Majesty's Government and the several governors of the colony ;
copy of resolution and address of Assembly protesting against said con-
vention.

You will observe by a perusal of these papers, that the British Govern-
ment have concluded a convention ^\-ith France, by which most important
concessions of fishing rights on the coast of this island_ and Labrador are
made to the latter power. The ultimate effects of the operation of this
measm-e will, it is confidently believed, be the depopvdatiou of this colony
of its British inhabitants, and the consequent possession of Newfoundland
by a foreign power. The French pm-sue the fishery on this coast as a means
only to the creation of seamen for their ua\-y, and the aid of the Imperial
Government is freely given to carry out this national object. We prosecute
the fisheries pm-ely as a commercial speculation, by the agency of private

CHAP. XXXV. FISHERIES OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 221

ultimate effects of the operation of this measure would be
the depopulation of the colony of its British inhabitants,

enterprise, and have hitherto been injuriously afffcted by their unequal com-
petition. Under the veiy extended privileges conferred by this convention,
it is the belief of our best-informed men that our trade and industry must
succimib to the influences they will have to encounter. The direct inter-
ference of the French with the prosecution of our pursuits on the one hand,
and the increase of their bountj^-sustained trade on the other, while lessen-
ing the amount of our produce, must lead to the further result of making
that smaller production of less relative value than before.

Nova Scotia has a large interest on the coasts on which this convention
proposes to give the subjects of France concun-ing rights of fishing; and in
the proportion of that interest will this measure be productive to her of the
like results that we anticipate. This act of the British Government has
been received here with common feelings of indignation and alarm, and
there is the less palliation for this concession to the French, since the con-
sequences of such a measure have been repeatedly urged in despatches from
the local government.

The convention, it is true, makes the assent of this colony, by the passing
of certain laws, necessary to give it effect. On this point I have but to ob-
serve, that not only will no such assent be given by the Legislature, but the
people, with one voice, have determined that eveiy just and honourable
means shall be employed to defeat a project so fraught with ruin to eveiy
interest in the colony.

In pursuance of this detemaination, the Legislature are appealing to Her
Majesty and the Imperial Parliament, and will send a delegation to sustain
their rights. We are unwilling to believe that the British Government or
the Imperial Parliament would permit the ratification of such a measure
without our consent, and in defiance of the principles our constitution em-
bodies. But the great importance of the interest involved, and the fact that
the British Government has acceded to the convention in the face of the
strong protests that for years have gone from this colony, produce in our
minds a feeling of shaken confidence, and compel us to admit that our posi-
tion is one of extreme peril. Nor will it mitigate the effect of the treaty —
should it be confii-med — that it involves the broken faith of a parent
government to the oldest North American dependency of the Crown. I
respectfully appeal to you. Sir, as the organ of your honourable House, to
consider whether this convention does not embrace a question of colonial
right, in which all are concerned, and which it may not be unworthy of
your honourable body to entertain. The wrong will not be done if our
fellow-colonists view it as we think they must, and avow their sentiments
accordingly. Our rights are proposed to be sacrificed in this to Imperial
exigency, and if such a principle be sanctioned its application to other
colonies may be but a question of time and circumstances.

And it will also be well to consider what its effect would be on the other

222 THE LABKADOE PENINSULA. chap. xxxv.

and the consequent possession of Newfoundland by a
foreign power.

A select committee of tlie House of Assembly of New-
foundland reported on February 26, 1857, and sub-
mitted resolutions strongly condemnatory of the con-
vention, as ruinous to British American interests. An
address to the Secretary for the Colonies Avas framed
and adopted, and all constitutional steps taken to arrest
the calamity with which this convention threatened them.
In the address of the Commons to Her Majesty's Pro-
vincial Secretary of State for the Colonies on this
subject, the following brief history and present state and
condition of the Newfoundland fisheries is given : —

The Treaty of Utrecht gave the French a concurrent right
of fishery on the shores of Newfoundland, from Point Eoche
around the north-west coast to Cape Bonavista on the eastern
coast ; this right, restricted to Cape St. John, instead of Cape
Bonavista on the eastern coast, and extended to Cape Ray on
the west, was continued to them by the Treaty of Versailles,
with the additional advantage conferred by the declaration of
His Britannic Majesty, that means should be taken to prevent
injury to the French fishery by the exercise of their concurrent
right by British subjects. Proclamations from time to time
issued in Newfoundland in conformity with the declaration and
under the authority of the 28th Greo. III. cap. 15 ; and the
practice of the French, permitted by the British Government, of
forcibly preventing British subjects from fishing at the French

British American pi'ovinces, especially in time of war, if this island, the
key of the St. Lawrence, with its numberless capacious harbours, fell into
the hands of a foreign power — a conjuncture which the operation of the
convention can hardly fail to bring about.

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your most obedient servant,

A. Shea, Speaker.

CHAr. XXXV. FEEXCH RIGHT OF FISHEET. 223

stations within the above limits, practically converted the con-
current fishery into one exclusively French, and the colony was
thus, by the act of the parent state, deprived of the fairest por-
tion of its fishery grounds. The consequences of this act, how-
ever, were not immediately felt. The operation of the Treaty
being suspended by the wars which shortly followed, the British
fisheries prospered, and in the year 1815 not fewer than 400
sail of British ships, of which a very large proportion were fitted
out from St. John's and the adjacent ports, fished upon the
Banks, and not fewer than 100,000 quintals of fish were ex-
ported by British subjects to France alone. After the peace of
1815 the French resorted to the Banks and to the coast of
Newfoundland in great numbers, and, being supported by enor-
mous bounties, the quantity of British-caught fish rapidly
lessened, and its prices in foreign and colonial markets fell.
The British and Colonial Bank fishery consequently declined,
and in 1845 became extinct; and the fishery on our eastern
shore, once so productive, was so much injured by the French
Bank fishery, that the greater part of those engaged in it have
of late years been obliged to fish at the Labrador, or on the
south coast of the island. At present, therefore, excluded by
force from the fishery between Cape Eay and Cape St. John,
and driven from the Banks by French bounties, we have but
two cod fisheries that are of any importance to us — that carried
on on our south coast from Cape Eace westward, and known as
the Western Fishery, and that carried on at the Labrador, be-
tween Blanc Sablon and Cape Harrison ; and it is these that the
terms of the present convention will principally affect.

The first article of the convention that materially alters our
existing rights, is the third, which gives to the French a con-
current right of fishery with British subjects on the Labrador
coast, between Blanc Sablon and Cape Charles, with the right
also of occupying Belle Isle North for fishery purposes, and of
fishing in its neighbourhood.

The effects of this concession, it may be shortly stated, will
be the total loss to British subjects of the fishery between Blanc
Sablon and Cape Charles, and round Belle Isle, the sacrifice of
the British establishments in the Straits, and certain and increas-

224 THE LABRADOK PENINSULA. chap. xxxv.

ing injury, if not positive ruin, to the Labrador fishery north of
Cape Charles, as will appear from the following considerations : —
The French carry on their fishery by means of large seines and
bultows. With the former, which are generally 200 fathoms and
upwards in length by thirty-five or forty in depth, they sweep
the ground where they are used, taking and destroying great
quantities of fish ; with the bultows also (which are lines moored
in the water, each sometimes a mile in length, and containing
several hundred baited hooks, which, except when lifted at
stated intervals to take off the fish, continue in the water day
and night) they attract and detain the fish in the locality where
they are placed, and take great numbers of them. Large seines
and numerous bultows, however, can only be tended and handled
where there are large crews. These the French, by means of
their bounties, can command. British fishermen, without such
support, can use only the hook and line, and at best small cod
seines of 100 fathoms long by eleven deep; the result mast in-
evitably be that the French will, within the same space, take a
much larger quantit}^ of fish than our men can ; and these being
taken from a locality where at present we can hardly find enough
for ourselves, we shall be compelled to abandon that part of the
coast altogether. The same observations apply to a concurrent
fishery at Belle Isle ; and that they are founded not merely in
theory, is shown by the history of our Bank fishery, and can be
confirmed by the experience of our oldest fishermen.

By the aid of their large bounties, in short, the French are
enabled to carry on their fisheries in a manner that speedily
gives them the command of the whole ground to which they
may resort, and in a short time makes a nominally concurrent
fishery exclusively their own.

The loss of the Straits fishery, however, is not the only in-
jury we shall sustain by the concession we are now considering ;
we shall suffer further injury in this way. The fish which
supply the Straits and the Labrador fisheries consist for the
most part of two large shoals, one of which, entering the Grulf
off Cape Eay in April or May, passes through the Straits down
the Labrador shore ; and the other, coming from the eastward
somewhat later in the season, strikes Belle Isle and proceeds

CHAP. XXXV. ILLEGAL TRAFFIC IN BAIT. 225

onward in the same direction. If, therefore, the French be per-
mitted to sweep their hirge seines and spread their bultows
round Belle Isle, it cannot be doubted that the effect which we
too surely know has by such means- been produced elsewhere on
our coast will be reproduced here — both shoals of fish will be
intercepted on their way to the Labrador, to the great injury,
if not the entire destruction, of our fisheries on that shore.

The ' taking of bait,' which consists of herring, caplin,
and launce, on the coast of the Gulf, is perhaps the most
material and important question with regard to the
fisheries, for without bait the cod fisheries on the banks
and elsewhere in deep water would be comparatively
valueless. The French were most anxious to obtain the
right to purcliase and fish for herrings and caj^lin to be
used as bait on the south coast of Newfoundland, the
trafiic in bait being expressly forbidden by law. The
value of bait sold in 1856 to the French was estimated
by competent authority at not less than 58,000/.* The
price which the French give for bait operates as a very
seductive temptation towards illicit traffic. In 1856 an
average of 2Qs. to 27-5. sterling a barrel was paid by
them for herrings sold for bait, while the actual legitimate
value of herrings for exportation was at the same time
only 6-s. Id. sterling. Hence the premium on the illicit
traffic amounted to one pound sterling per barrel of 200 lbs.
A reduced supply of bait to the French fishermen is
equivalent not merely to a corresponding diminution in
their catch of fish, but to a much larger supply on the
British American coast, which, after feeding for a certain
period on the Great Banks, resort to the coasts in pursuit

* Governor Parliiig-.
VOL. U. q

226 THE LABKADOR PENINSULA. chap. xsxv.

of the herring, caphii, and launce. If the French have
an abundant supply of bait, the fish hnger on the banks
as a feeding-ground. The tonnage fitted out yearly for
the French bank fishery slightly exceeds 18,000.*

The right to dry and cure fish on shore is of the
greatest importance, as not only are fish so cured of much
superior quahty, and consequently command a market
where indifferent samples are unsaleable, but facilities for

* The anxiety witli which tlie assent of the Goverament of Newfound-
land to the ' convention with France ' was expected hy the British Govern-
ment, may be inferred from the following extract from the despatch addressed
by the Secretary of the Colonies to Governor Darling- in 1857 : —

' Such are the outlines of the treaty, which I now transmit to you.
Deeply anxious as they are to effect the settlement of questions so com-
plicated, and so pregnant with probable mischief to both countries, Her
Majesty's Government have, nevertheless, not thought themselves justified
in departing from that rule of colonial government which is now so firmly
established in British North America. They have thought that in regard
to matters affecting the soil and the population of Newfoundland, the con-
cm-rence of the legislature of Newfoundland itself should be sought before
any treaty stipulations could be put into execution, and that the aid of
Parliament (notwithstanding its paramount constitutional power in ques-
tions of treaty, affecting as they do, directly or indirectly, the empire at large)
ought, except in an extreme case, to be reserved for the purpose of com-
pleting whatever the local legislature' may not have strict legal power
to effect.

' Probably the simplest course would be to recite the treaty in a single act,
and give it force of law in the island as far as this is needed ; but this I
notice by way of suggestion only. You will observe, lastly, that although
Her Majesty's Government have expressly submitted the treat)' to the assent
of the Newfoundland legislature, they have for their part promised to give
their best endeavours to procure the passing of the necessary laws. They
are most desirous that these words should be taken as expressing their
strong anxiety to effect this arrangement, and the conviction that to miss
this opportunity of coming to a settlement will be to cause great incon-
venience and probable future loss to Newfoundland. For there can be no
doubt that the final failure of a negotiation so long continued vinll tend to
encourage both parties to resort to the full exercise of their existing rights.
When the expectation of ultimate agreement upon disputed points is at an
end, there will, it must be feared, be little encouragement left for com-
promise or mutual forbearance.'

CHAP. XXXV. BOUNTIES OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT. 227

doubling (jr trebling the ordinary catch are greatly aug-
mented.

The bounties paid by France during the nine years
from 1841 to 1850 inclusive, for the cod fishery alone,
amounted to the annual average of 3,900,000 francs.
The number of men employed annually in their fishery
was 11,500 ; the bounties, therefore, would be at the rate
of 338 francs per annum for each man. France thus
trains up hardy and able seamen for her navy.

This notice, already perhaps too much prolonged, of
the importance of the cod fisheries of Newfoundland and
the Great Banks may be appropriately brought to a close
by a quotation from a French official's document of great
interest and weight : —

Nevertheless, the loss of her most magnificent colonies has
occasioned irreparable injury to the commercial marine, whicli
is an essential element of naval power. Treaties, which become
inevitable in the course of time, have successively robbed her of
the most valuable objects of freight. Cotton belongs to the
Americans, coal to the English ; and at the present moment, the
shipment of sugars, our last resource for distant navigation,
seems to be daily growing- less and less.

The Great Fisheries still remain to us ; and in order to
preserve them we must continue the encouragement they have
received, even at periods when a commercial and colonial pro-
sperity, infinitely superior to that now existing, multiplied our
shipping, and created abundance of seamen. In fact, the
fisheries give employment to a great number of men, whom a
laborious navigation, under climates of extreme rigour, speedily
forms to the profession of the sea. No other school can com-
pare with this in preparing them so well, and in numbers so
important, for the service of the navy.*

* Report rendered in the name of tlie Commission for tlie Enquiry into the
Law relating to the Great Sea Fisheries, by M. Ancet, 1851. M. Coste, of

Q 2

228 ^ THE MBRADOIl PENINSULA. chap. xxxv.

The Americans are fully alive to the importance of the
fisheries in British American waters. They have not
only given the utmost publicity to their views, but they
have proved their sincerity by the Eeciprocity Treaty,
which permits Ameidcans to enjoy the same rights as the
colonists on the coasts of Britisli America. A recent
document, emanating from the House of Eepresentatives,
states that —

The chief wealth of Newfoundland and of the Labrador coast
is to be found in their extensive and inexhaustible fisheries, in
which the other Provinces also partake. The future products
of these, when properly developed by human ingenuity and
industry, defy human calcidation. The Gulf Stream is met
near the shores of Newfoundland by a current from the Polar
basin, vast deposits are formed by the meeting of the opposing
waters, the great submarine islands known as ' The Banks ' are
formed, and the rich pastures created in Ireland by the warm
and humid influence of the Gfulf Stream are compensated by the
' rich sea-pastures of Newfoundland.' The fishes of warm or
tropical waters, inferior in quality and scarcely capable of pre-
servation, cannot form an article of commerce like those pro-
duced in inexhaustible quantities in these cold and shallow
seas. The abundance of these marine resources is unequalled
in any portion of the globe.*

The fisheries of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the coast
of Labrador may be divided into two classes, the sea
fisheries and the river fisheries. The followdng paragraphs
contain a brief summary of the value of these diflferent
fisheries to the nations who prosecute them ; the details

the Institute of France, submitted a report to tlie Emperor during the
3'ear 1861, whose title shows the interest taken in this prolific subject,
' On the Organisation of Fisheries as regards the Increase of the Naval
Force of France.'
• * Report on the Ileciprocity Treaty with Great Britain, Feb. 5, 1862.

CHAP. XXXV. THE HERRING FISHERY. '229

of the more important liaviiig been already given in pre-
ceding chapters.

The fish which form the most lucrative articles of com-
merce are the herring, the cod, the mackerel, the salmon,
the whale, the seal, and different species of shell-fish.

THE VALUE OF THE HERRING FISHERY.

The immense number of herrings which frequent the
coast of the Gulf is almost beyond belief, and although
they have been netted for a hundred years, yet they do
not seem to diminish. The most expeditious and pro-
fitable way of taking the herring is with the seine, and
until very recently the possession of large seines has been
enjoyed exclusively by the Americans and Nova-Scotians.
The bays and harbours of the Gulf swarm with these fish
in spring and autumn, and although the fisheries are
remunerative even with the comparatively small capital
embarked by Canadians, there is room, according to
Captain Fortin, for the employment of a thousand addi-
tional hands and a hundred additional vessels, especially
on the coast of Labrador. About 10,000 barrels of her-
rings are now annually consimied in Canada, and the
quantity exported from the Gulf forms a very important
item in the commerce of the provinces, and afi^ords
employment to great numbers of American fishermen. It
is difficult to arrive at any correct data respecting the
value of the herring fisheries alone, as the returns are
given in bulk with those of salt and pickled fish. Owing
to the want of care in curinii; the fish, an innnense loss
aniuially aiiscs from spoiled samples. It might become

230 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxxv.

the most prolific and valuable fisliery of the Gulf if proper
precautions were adopted in curing. It is not an unfre-
quent occurrence for the ' catch ' to be salted in ' bidk ; '
that is to say, they are put into the hold of the vessel
without washing, bleeding, or cleansing. Wlien the
vessel arrives at the port whence she sailed, they are taken
out and packed in barrels. Li consequence of this care-
less practice, whole cargoes often prove worthless as food,
and are used as manure. ' Of all the fisheries m the Gulf
of St. Lawrence, none could be increased to a greater
extent, or would furnish a more valuable export, than the
herring fisliery, if placed under judicious regulations,
properly enforced, and conducted with greater skill and
care.'*

The importations of herrings into Massachusetts from
the British Provinces were as follows during 1859tol8Gl
inclusive : —

1859

I860

1861

Barrels . .

. . 100,400

133,992

49,259

Boxes . .

. . 13,135

28,861

12,800

The falhno: off in 18G1 is attributed to the civil war in
the United States, the Southern market having been closed
to the fish of the Gulf in consequence.

The disappearance of the herring from certain parts of
tlie coast of the Gulf has led to the supposition that their
numbers were diminishing. It is, however, probable that
local and temporary atmospheric causes have diverted the
shoals from their accustomed migrations. We have high
authority for the opinion that the subject is still involved

' IJcport on tlie .Sea and Kiver Fisheries oi' New Brunswicli, by H. M.
i'erly, Escj.

CHAP. XXXV. MIGRATORY HABITS OF THE HERRIXG. 231

in mystery, and much light requires to be thrown upon
the natural lii story of this fish before its migratory
habits can be said to be understood. In the Eeport by
the Commissioners for the British Fisheries for 1859, it
is admitted that many theories are advanced to account
for these capricious fluctuations, ' some alarming as to
the decay of the herring fisheries, others inventive and
fictitious as to the supposed habits of the fish, but none
that will stand the test even of shght investigation, much
less the scrutiny of scientific enquiry.' *

THE MACKEREL FISHERY.

Although the mackerel abounds in the Gulf, the pur-
suit of this valuable fish is almost altogether in the hands
of American and ISTova-Scotian fishermen. The summer
mackerel fishing, which is by far the most important, is
entirely in the hands of the Americans. Some con-
ception of the importance of this industry will be formed
when the statistics in the United States are considered.
The States of Xew England send out a thousand vessels

* The lierriug fishery is most valuable and abuudaut ; it can hardly be
surpassed elsewhere. From tmskillfuluess in fishing, and ignorance of the
best mode of curing, this fishery is scarcely profitable, and the salted
hemngs have no commercial value. The remedy would consist in the
employment of competent persons to teach the manner of so arranging the
nets as to take the gTeatest quantity of fish at all times, and of experienced
curers to give instructions as to the Dutch mode of curing, the adoption of
which has so greatly mcreased the demand for Scottish herrings, and
rendered that fishery so valuable. The means successfully adopted by the
commissioners of British fisheries with respect to the herring fisheries of
Scotland may safely be followed in New Brunswick ; and perhaps the
establishment of a fishery Board, with somewhat similar powers and
duties, might also be advantageous as well to the gulf fisheries as to tliose
of the Bay of Fimdy. — Report on Sea and River Fisheries within tlie Gulf of
St. Lawrenee.

232 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxxv.

from sixty to eighty tons each, manned by more than
10,000 seamen. In consequence of the civil war, and
the great demand for sailors in the Federal fleets, 6,000
'•green' hands were employed in the summer of the
present year (1861). The quantity of mackerel taken by
the American fishermen on the British coast of the Gulf
Captain Fortin estimates at 50,000 barrels, worth ^600,000,
whereas the mackerel fishery in Canada does not yield
5,000 barrels per annum ; and yet there is no valid
reason why it should not yield ten times that quantity
under proper protection, management, and enterprise.

The following table allows the amount of imports of
mackerel into the United States from the British Pro-
vinces during the years 1856 to 1861 inclusive: — -

Barrels

Barrels

1856 . .

. . 38,525

1859 . .

. . 35,407

1857 . .

. . 28,852

1860 . .

. . 36,728

1858 . .

. . 38,525

18()1 . .

. . 15,814

There are now about 30,000 tons of shipping employed
in tlie mackerel fishery by the JSTew England States, and
the number of barrels of fisli, caught annually, varies
from 131,000 to 360,000. The mode in which the
New-Englanders follow this lucrative business is as
follows : — ' The men are shipped " on shares," as it is
termed ; tliat is, each man is entitled to one-half the fish
he takes, the otlier half going to the vessel. After about
a week's sail they arrive at their destination, whicli com-
prises the Gulf of St. Lawrence, from Cape Breton Island
on the south, and Prince Edward's Island on tlie west,
to the mouth of the St. Lawrence on the nortli. On theii'
arri\al bait is got up tnid ground. The '•toll-bait,'' as it

CHAP. XXXV. TOLL-BAIT FOR MACKEREL. 233

is called, is generally menhaden or porgies, a small bony
fish, not used as an article of food. This is supplied in
great quantities to each vessel. It is finely ground in a
mill provided for the purpose, then mixed with water,
and is ready for use. Upon the appearance of a school
of mackerel, which is indicated by a rippling of the
surface of the water not unlike that of the schools of
herring, the vessel is " hove to," and the " toll-bait "
thrown. The fish will generally follow the bait to the
side of the vessel, where all hands are at their quarters
anxiously awaiting the first bite. And now commences
a general excitement. Each man has his barrel by his
side, and to those who have never seen the operation,
the rapidity with Avhich the fish are taken from the
water is almost incredible. The men are provided with
two lines each, and upon a " strike," which means when
the fish bite rapidly, these lines are in constant motion ;
and what seems strangest of all is the fact, that although
a space of only about 2^ feet is allowed to each man
for himself and his barrel, it is very seldom that the
lines become entangled, even when, the school being at
some distance from the vessel, some fifteen or twenty
fathoms of line are required, and the fish, as soon as they
feel the hook, dart hither and thither with the rapidity
of lightning. After a " deck " of mackerel is obtained, all
hands prepare to put them in salt. Tlie operations of
"passing up," "sphtting," and "gibbing," are gone through,
and they are packed in sidt in the barrels.' A crew of
ten men have been known to catch in the Bay of Chaleurs
in one day ninety packed or ' dressed ' barrels of mackerel,
which could not contain less than 12,000 fish. Mackerel

234 THE LABRADOE PENINSULA. chap. xxxv.

are also taken by ' drift-nets ; ' but this most lucrative
fishery is still in its infancy in the British Provinces,
although it affords a 'splendid field for the enterprise and
industry of the people. American schooners take mack-
erel on the north shore of the Gulf in great quantities,
while the Canadians are mere lookers-on. ' The mackerel
fishery is the most excellent in the Gulf,' says Mr. Perly,
' near the shores of this province (New Brunswick) ; but
the inhabitants do not avail themselves of its abundance,
while citizens of the United States pursue it largely near
these same shores with much profit.' These remarks
were written in 1852 ; after the lapse of ten years they
have lost none of their force or application.

THE COD FISHERY.

In 1839, Her Majesty's ship Champion, in sailing from
the East Cape of Prince Edward's Island to the Bay
of Chaleurs (crossing the Bradelle Bank), passed through
a fleet of 600 to 700 sail of American schooners, all en-
gaged in cod-fishing.* In 1795, the Americans had
37,000 tons of shipping engaged in this fishery ; at the
present time they have 110,000 tons so employed.

In 1852, a colonial newspaper stated that ' the
Vigilance brig-of-war vessel on the coast of New-
foundland has damaged the French fisheries very much.
Fifty vessels of the fleet in the Straits of Belle Isle wiU
return home, having 80,000 quintals short of last year's
catch.' These proceedings were authorised by the
Government, under the general plan adopted in 1852,

* Report ou iLc Fisheries of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

CHAP. XXXV.

FLUCTUATIONS IN THE COD FISHERY,

2S5

to prevent encroachments on the fishing-ground ; and
Admkal Seymour, hi a letter to the Governor of New-
foundland, states that he was authorised to hire and
employ some shore schooners, for which he was to
provide officers and men, to protect the fisheries on the
coast of Labrador.

The magnitude and importance of the cod fishery has
already been sufficiently indicated in a previous chapter.
Like all other industries belonging to the same class, cod-
fishing is hable to periodical fluctuations. The year 1861
proved very disastrous to the Newfoundland fishermen.
The deficiency in the exports of that year amounted to
no less than 172,375 quintals. It is alleged, however,
that this arose rather from the scanty advances made to
fishermen by the traders, than from any diminution in the
iTin of fish. The following table shows the vast import-
ance of the cod fishery to Newfoundland : —

Quantities of Cod-fish exported

Value in pounds sterling

1855
1856

1857
1858
1859

1,107,388 cwt.
1,268,334 quintals
1,392,322 „
1,038,089 „
1,105,793 „

680,283
789,124
1,006,129
765,101
894,966

The Newfoundland cod fishery is carried on in the
harbours of that island and on the coast of Labrador.
The bank fishery, both British and colonial, ceased to be
remunerative in 1845, in consequence of the bounties
suppUed to Frencli and American fishermen by their
governments.

'236 THE LABEADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxxv.

THE SALJklON FISHERY.

No description of fisli has been so much neglected or
abused in British America as the sahnon. ^It is only
within the last three or four years that the Government of
Canada has directed attention to the preservation of this
noble fish in the vast number of streams which flow into
Canadian waters on the Eiver and Gulf of St. Lawrence.
There are seventy tidal rivers in Canada which are well
known to be frequented by salmon. In many of these
great numbers of fish have been taken with the net for
many years past ; and although some of them are now
visited by a far less number of fish than formerly, yet,
judging from experience, the run of salmon would rapidly
increase if the excellent regulations now established by
the Canadian Government were faithfuUy carried out.

Twenty-five or thirty years ago every stream tributary to the
St. Lawrence, from Niagara to Labrador on the north side, and
to Gfaspe Basin on the south, abounded with salmon. At the
present moment, with the exception of a few, as the Jacques
Cartier, there is not one to be found in an};- river between the
falls of Niagara and the city of Quebec. This deplorable de-
crease in a natural production of great value has arisen from
two causes: — 1st, the natural disposition of uncivilised men to
destroy at all times and at all seasons whatever has life and is
fit for food ; and 2nd, the neglect of those persons who have
constructed mill-dams to attach to them slides or chutes, by
ascending which the fish could pass onwards to their spawning
beds in the interior.*

* The Decrease, Restoration, and Preservation of Sahnon in Canada.
By the Eev. William Agar Adamson, D.C.L. This valuable paper was
first prepared for the Canadian Institute ; it has been republished as a ver}-
outertainiug worli entitled ' Sahnon Fishing iu Canada, bv a Resident.'

CHAP. XXXV. THE CANADIAN SALMON FISHERIES. 237

Tlie exteiisiou of the Canadian railway system to any
j)oint on the Bay of Chalenrs would enable salmon from
the north shore, and even from Labrador, to be sent, in
ice, to any part of the United States. Tlie proposed
intercolonial railroad will not only be of immense value
to tlie fisheries of the Gulf, but afford the means of sup-
plying fresh salmon, cod, mackerel, and herring to at
least 15,000,000 people. The long winters on the
Gulf coast afford ample time and material for procuring
any quantity of ice which a growing fresh-fish trade
would require. The vast ice wealth of the north will
yet be utilised. In many parts of the world ice is no
longer a luxury — it is a necessity. In 1832, only 4,352
tons of ice were shipped from Boston ; in 1854, the ship-
ments rose to 154,540 tons. In New Orleans, substantial
brick ice-houses have been erected at a cost of ,^200,000.
By the aid of steam, ten tons of ice can be cut and
housed in a minute ; and in the neighbourhood of Boston,
it is not an uncommon feat to cut and stow away in the
convement ice-houses, near Fresh Pond, 600 tons in an
hour. The day will soon arrive when the fish of the
Gulf of St. Lawrence, packed in ice, will be found in the
markets of every large town in the great valley of the
Mississippi from St. Paul to New Orleans. If the Cana-
dian salmon fisheries are faithfuUy preserved according to
the present regulations, there can be no doubt but that
the leasing of the salmon rivers will eventually produce
an annual revenue of (^50,000 instead of i^l,437 as
in 1862.

The preservation and increase of this noble fish has
been so frequently discussed, and the manner of restoring

238

THE LABRADOR PENINSULA.

CHAP. XXXV.

deserted salmon rivers to their original productiveness so
often brought before the public, that any further remarks
on this subject are unnecessary.

MINGAN FALLS, A FAMOUS SALMON LEAP.

Many of the salmon rivers in Canada are leased to
private gentlemen for the sake of the excellent fly-fishing
they afford. As this source of revenue is likely to be-
come of considerable importance in conjunction with the
net fisheries, it will be perhaps desirable to append some
of the results of salmon-fishing with the fly during three
or four years past.

It is, however, justly remarked by the Commissioner
of Crown Lands that—

The want of some established and expeditious communication
with the salmon rivers and coast stations hinders persons from
paying such rental for desirable privileges as otherwise could
readily be obtained. When the cost and discomfort, and the

CHjVP. XXXV.

LABRADOR SALMON-FISHING.

239

uncertainty of reaching distant places in sailing vessels, is
reflected upon, it is not siu-prising that individuals should
either abandon altogether the thought of leasing, and refrain
from the desired excursion, or else tender very low rates for the
fishery privileges.

Ten Days' Salmon Fishing on the Coast of the Labrador Penin-
sula (MoisiE Eiver), in June and July 1858, by Captain J. M.
Strachan.

No. of
(lays

No. of
Salmon

No. of
Grilse

Weights

Length of
largest fish

Remarks

1

2
3

4
5
6

/

8

9

10

1
1

4
4
4
3

4

3
2

2

2
2
3

2
1

"i

1

lbs.

13

10^
f5, 6, 10, 12,
1 38,401*
(7, 8, 10, 12,
1 23, 24
f4i,5, 6, lU,
1 111, 19, 38
f'5, G, 191,
1 30, 34
f 6, 12, 24,
1 26, 36|

12, 14, 361
6, 9, 25i

5, 221, 29

3 ft. 9 in. and
3 ft. 11 in.

3 ft. 9 in.

3 ft. 6 in. and
3 ft. 7 in.

3 ft. 81 in.

3 ft. 9 in.
3 ft. 3 in.
3ft. Sin.

* This is the
largest salmon e vei-
killed on this coast
with the rod.

Total salmon, 28.

Grilse, 12.

Averag-e weio-ht of
salmon, 21 lbs.
and upwards.

Average weight of
grilse, 5| lbs.

Total

28

12

673

These fish were all killed on single gut, and the flies were made by Forest
of Kelso, after my own pattern.

The 40 lbs. fish weighed 3o lbs. after he was cleaned.

The Cottage, Toronto :
Juh/ 17, 1858.

Salmon taken with the Fly in the River Godbout, Canada, during
June and July 1801.*

Date

No. of
Fish

Weights

Fly

June

6

2

8. 9

Fiery brown

7

4

8, 7, 6, 4

Liglit claret

8

1

5

Bhie

9

Sunday

10

3

4. 5, 6

Crimson

11

2

11, 12

Do.

12

2

9, 9

L. claret

13

2

8, 5

D. claret

14

3

21, 7, 11

L. claret, G-. parrot

15

3

23, 16, 10

Blue

16

Sunday

17

9

9, 10, 12, 10, 12, 5, 11, 9, 6

Black M.W.

IS

5

10, 15, 12. 11, 9

Do. G. P.

19

20

4

12, 9, 11, 9

Black RB.

21

10

10, 11. 8. 10, 16. 11, 8. 8. 7, 12

G. P. de Winton

22

4

10. 10, 10. 10

Grey de W.

23

Sunday

Flies troublesome

24

4

7. 8, 10, 12

Black M. W.

25

6

10, 10, 9, 10, 10

Grey B. M. W.

26

5

10. 10, 10, 10. 4

Do. G.P.

27

10

10, 6, 8, 8, 9, 13. 9, 12, 16, 10

Do.

28

8

11, 16. 18, 12, 10, 19. 7, 10

F. B. G. P.

29

7

10, 13, 25. 13, 7, 10, 22

G. P. Grey

30

Sunday — fine weather, but showery ; river
not gone down much this week

July

10. 10, 10, 10, 9, 8, 9, 11, 9, 10, 10. 9, 12,

1

21

10, 7. 8. 11, 9, 9, 13, 12
10, 10, 10. 11, 9, 21, 9. 10

2

8

10, 10. 10, 10, 10. 10, 10, 10, 10

3

9

12, 12, 10, 12, 20, 8, 11, 11, 10, 8, 10. 7

4

12

10. 11, 10, 9, 9. 9, 10, 8, 12. 11. 9, 12, 13. 11

5

14

8. 12, 10, 10. 10. 10, 10, 10, 10, 7. 12, 12,

6

15

12, 12. 12

Sunday

7

10, 10, 15, 10, 10. 10. 10, 10, 11, 12, 12, 14,

8

15

10, 8, 12

9

3

10, 9, 8

10

4

8, 10, 4, 4

. * .

11

5

6, 13, 9, 10, 11

12

10

4, 10, 9, 9, 12. 9, 8, 10, 9, 9

13

11

10, 10, 10, 9, 12, 9, 9, 8, 4, 11, 10

14

Siuiday

15

3

11, 11, 8

16

3

9, 10, 18

17

10

11, 10, 10, 11, 11, 11, 11, 10, 8, 4

18

4

8, 8, 8, 9,

19

3

5, 10, 11

20

2

10, 10

21

Sunday

22

River in flood. No fishing

23

1

9 — Eiver too high

24

6

8, 10, 9, 18, 8, 18

25

Broke up our encampment for the season

1

...

Total

252

I am indebted for this list to the author of ' Salmon Fishing in Canada.' ami Perly.

CHAP. XXXV. BRITISH AMERICAN FISH EXPORTS.

241

AGGREGATE VALUE OF THE BRITISH AMERICAN FISHERIES.

It is very difficult to obtain a close approximation to
the actual annual aggregate value of the fisheries of the
Gulf and the coast of Labrador. It would be necessary
to obtain accm^ate returns from France, the United States,
Great Britain, and the British Provinces. But both
French and American fishermen leave the Great Banks, if
the season is not successful, and go to the Labrador, or
into the Gulf, so that the distinction cannot be made with
an approach to accuracy as regards the French and the
Americans. The British American fisheries, however, do
not now include the Great Banks, so that a close approxi-
mation to the value of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the
Labrador to the Provinces may be determined. The
following table shows the value of the exports of fish,
fisli-od, and seal-skins from British America during the
years 1855, 1856, and 1857 :—

1855

1856

1857

New Brunswick . .

Canada

Nova Scotia . . .
Prince Edward's Island
Newfoundland . .

47,193

79,842
568,086

1,028J388

64,311

82,960
564,342

1,254^737

71,190

98,271

387,422 *

17,545

1,529,607

1,723,509

1,966,350

2,104,035

The exports of Nova Scotia being given for nine
months only of 1857, the addition of one-fourth would
not bring them up to the exports of the two previous

VOL. II.

* For nine months only.
R

242 THE LABEADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxxv.

years. But assuming that they were equal to those of

1856, the total value of the British American fisheries in

1857, with respect to exportations alone, amounted to
2,280,955/. sterling, or about ^11,000,000.

The value of the exports of fish from Nova Scotia
reached, in 1860, the large sum of ,^2,956,788, or witliin
44,000 of ^^3,000,000. This colony employed, in that
year, 3,258 vessels, with a gross tonnage of 248,061
tons, or a ton for each inhabitant.

Wlien the fish and fish-oil consumed by the inliabitants
of the Provinces are taken into account, there can be no
doubt that the present annual value of the fisheries to
British America exceeds ^15,000,000. That part of the
catch on the Labrador coast which goes directly to Great
Britain or the Island of New Jersey, is not included in
this estimate. The value of the Labrador fisheries alone
has been estimated by a very competent person at one
miUion sterhng per annum.

The total value of the fisheries of the Gulf of St.
Lawrence and the coast of Labrador, as prosecuted under
the enjoyment of ' concurrent rights ' by the Americans,
the French, the British, and the provincials, cannot fall
short of four miUions sterling per annum, or about twenty
milhons of dollars.

The Canadian fisheries are yet in their infancy. It is
only within the past half-dozen years that any attention
has been given to this important subject by the Govern-
ment. In the last Eeport of the Commissioners of Crown
Lands, under whose supervision the fisheries are now
placed, the following encouraging statement is made : —
' The aggregate production of this soin^ce of wealth during

CHAP. XXXV. EXCKOACHMENTS ON CANADIAN FISHEKIES. 243

the past year (1860) adds another to the many existing
proofs that, however severe may be exceptional and
merely local failmres, and however fluctuating individual
success, the inexliaustible fisheries of Canada yield every
returning season an increasing amount of wealth to re-
ward the industry and enterprise engaged in them.'

Table showing the value of the produce of Canadian
fisheries fi:om 1857 to 1861, mclusive : —

1857 540,113 dollars

1858 718,296 „

1859 817,423 „

1860 832,646 „

1861 663,700 „

The protection afforded by one armed schooner is utterly
insufficient to secure the Canadian fisheries ao^ainst un-
lawful usurpation. Complaints without number are made
on the coast of the audacity and insolence of many
American fishermen. It is quite reasonable to suppose
that when so many thousand men visit our waters,
hundreds among them will be inchned to take advantage
of their numbers, and, in the absence of any controlhng
power, encroach beyond the bounds assigned to them
by treaty. But their usurpations do not stop here.
Too many instances have recently occurred of injuries
and cruelties committed by them, which are permitted
to pass unredi'essed, because no means of bringing the
offenders to justice are within reach of the unfortunate
and oppressed Canadian fishermen. Captain Fortin says,
in his Eeport for 1860 : 'In speaking of American fisher-
men, I do not intend to allege that all of that nation who
frequent our coasts deserve the reprobation which I have

B 2

244 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxxv.

just applied to those of whom our people have too much
reason to complain. No doubt there are many excep-
tions ; but it is not the less true that in the present year
a great many of them have conducted themselves in the
most outrageous manner, in places where they had always
met with a kind reception.'*

An attempt is now being made to establish oyster-beds
in different parts of the Gulf. As far as the experiment
has been tried, it has proved successful. The con-
sumption of oysters in America is immense. The annual
value of the oyster trade of Virginia alone, before the
outbreak of the civil war, was (^20,000,000, and the
oyster trade of Baltimore exceeds the whole wheat trade
of Maryland. The total value of the oyster and shell-fish
fisheries of the United States is estimated to be ,^25,000,000
per annum, or more than all the other fisheries put toge-
ther. The extraordinary rapidity with which the oyster
trade may become developed, may be inferred from the
report of M. Coste, to the Emperor of the French, on
' the Organisation of the Fisheries,' wherein it is stated
that the production of oysters recommended by M. Coste
has taken such a prodigious developement, that, in the
Isle de Ee alone, more than 3,000 men who had come
from the interior have already estabhshed 1,500 parks,
which produce annually about 387,000,000 oysters of
the value of 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 francs.

There can be no doubt that of late years the Govern-
ment of Canada has exerted itself to improve the fisheries
belonging to the province, but not in a degree com-

* Sessional Papers, No. 15, 1861.

CHAP. XXXV. THE RECIPROCITY TREATY. 245

mensurate with their importance. The great fishing
interests have been grievously sacrificed to others
of less moment, and far more able to expand and
grow indefinitely without legislative assistance. The
following paragraph from the Eeciprocity Treaty will
show how completely the British American fisheries
have been placed at the mercy of the energetic
and industrious New-Englanders. The fact cannot be
concealed, however, that the French Canadians — who
ought, from the remarkable facilities they possess, to hold
the Gulf fisheries (in common with their fellow-colonists of
Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia) almost
exclusively in their grasp — are elbowed here and there
by their more active Yankee competitors, and see the
rich treasures of their seas snatched from the threshold
of their homes with scarcely an effort to seize a tithe of
the prize which might be their own.

It is agreed by the High Contracting Parties, that in addition
to the liberty secured to the United States fishermen by the
above-mentioned Convention of October 20, 1818, of taking,
curing, and drying fish on certain coasts of the British North
American Colonies therein defined, the inhabitants of the United
States shall have, in common with the subjects of Her Britannic
Majesty, the liberty to take fish of every kind, except shell-fish,
on the sea-coasts and shores, and in the bays, harbours, and
creeks of Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's
Island, and of the several islands thereunto adjacent, without
being restricted to any distance from the shore ; with permission
to land upon the coasts and shores of those colonies and the
islands thereof, and also upon the Magdalen Islands, for the
purpose of drying their nets and curing their fish : provided
that in so doing they do not interfere with the rights of private
property or British fishermen in the peaceable use of any part
of the said coast in their occupancy for the same purpose.

246 THE LABRADOE PENINSULA. chap. xxxv.

It is understood that the above-mentioned liberty applies
solely to the sea fishery, and that the salmon and shad fisheries,
and all fisheries in rivers, and the mouths of rivers, are hereby
reserved exclusively for British fishermen.

The bounties paid by tlie Canadian Government for
the developement and encouragement of fisheries, are as
follows : —

1. Three dollars per ton for three months' consecutive
fishing.

2. Three dollars and a half per ton for three months and a
half consecutive fishing.

3. Four dollars per ton for four months' consecutive fishing.

Vessels from 20 to 40 tons to carry 8 men ; from 40
to 60 tons to carry 10 men, and vessels from 60 to 80
tons to carry 12 men. The crew are to be three-fourths
of Canadian origin, and one-third of the bounty is to be
distributed between the crew in equal proportions, and
the remaining two-thirds to the owner ; or the bounty
may be distributed as agreed upon by the parties engaged
in the venture.

Enough has been said to show that the fisheries of the
Gulf of St. Lawrence and of Labrador are of immense
political and commercial importance. It will be readily
seen that great advantage would accrue to this most
valuable national interest if —

1st. Permanent settlements were fostered on the north
shore of the Gulf and the Island of Anticosti.

2nd. Schools established where the elements of navi-
gation could be taught to the children of fishermen.

3rd. A rapid communication with salmon rivers and
coast stations kept up throughout the fishing season.

CHAP. XXXV. IMPROVEMENT OF THE FISHERIES. 247

4th. Two armed steamers maintained for the protection
of the fisheries from the encroachments of foreigners.

5th. United action maintained by the Governments of
Canada, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brmiswick,
and Prince Edward's Island, for the preservation, support,
and developement of the British American fisheries.

APPENDIX.

No. I.

= 2G1

DISTANCES (SHOEE, NOT SAILING DIST.) FEOM QUEBEC TO
BLANC SABLON, THE EASTERN BOUNDARY OF CANADA.

Quebec to Murray Bay .
Murray Bay to Tadousac .
Tadousac to River Escoumain
River Escoumain to Portneuf
Portueuf to Sault de Cochon
Sault de Cochon to Laval .
Laval to Bersinniis .
Bersinmis to Outardes
Outardes to Manicouagan . _
Manicouagan to Mistassinni
Mistassinni to Betacio
Betacio to Godbout .
Godbout to Point des Monts
Point des Monts to River Trinity
River Trinity to Point Caribou.
Point Caribou to River Little Trinity
River Little Trinity to River Calumet
River Calumet to River Pentecost
River Pentecost to Cawer Islands
Cawer Islands to River St. Margaret
River St. Margaret to River Moisie
River Moise to River Trout
River Trout to River Manitou
River Manitou to River Sheldrake
Sheldrake to River Magpie
River Magpie to St. John
St. John to Mingan .
Mingan to Romaine .
Romaine to Watcheesho .
Watcheesho to Pashasheebo
Pashasheebo to Nabesippi
Nabesippi to Agwanus
Agwanus to Natashquan .
Natashquan to Kegashka ,
Kegashka to Musquarro .
Musquarro to "Washucootac
Washucootac to Olomonosheebo
Olomonosheebo to Coacoacho
Coacoacho to Etamaiou .
Etamaiou to Wetagaiou .
Wetagaiou to Mecattina .
INIecattina to Ha Ha .
Ha Ha to St. Augustine .
St. Augustine to Esquimaux
Esquimaux to Blanc Sablon

Miles

Miles

76

44 =

120

23

26

9

2

24 =

84

11

16

12

3

15 =

57

9'

7

6

4

3

14

8

28

24 =

103

7

35

16

22

5

10 =

101

9

53

18

7

5

14 =

106

23

15

12

11

18

21

16

4

9

6

14

7 =

150

= 364

= 405

= 571

727

252 APPENDIX II.

No. II.

REFLECTIONS IN 1857 ON TIIE FUTURE OF BRITISH
AIVIERICA, BY THE HON. W. H. SEWARD, SECRETARY OF
STATE, AFTER VISITING THE COAST OF LABRADOR AND
PARTS OF CANADA.*

No one is more truly a waiter on Providence than the traveller
who depends on sails to be filled by favouring breezes. Ten
watches of the day and night have passed since we left Anti-
costi, and yet we are only seventy miles nearer our port. But
we have had balmy summer skies and a gentle summer sea.
Not a craft of any size or kind has darkened our horizon. It is
to us as if the human world beyond it was not. The sea birds
have circled our masts, crying for crumbs from our table, as it
has been bountifully spread a half dozen times on deck, either
in the sunshine or in the shade of the canvas.

Dreamy existence is this living at sea in the summer. Per-
haps my meditations on the political destinies of the region
around me may be as unsubstantial. But I will nevertheless
confess and avow them. Hitherto, in common with most of
my countrymen, as I suppose, I have thought Canada, or to
speak more accurately, British America, a mere strip lying
north of the United States, easily detachable from the parent
state, but incapable of sustaining itself, and therefore ulti-
mately, nay, right soon, to be taken on by the Federal Union,
without materially changing or affecting its own condition or
developement. I have dropped the opinion as a national con-

* A Cruise to Labrador, Log of the Schooner Emerence, Correspondence of
the Albany Evening Journal, by the Hon, W. H. Seward, Secretaiy of State,
United States.

APPENDIX II. 253

ceit. I see in British North America, stretching as it does
across the continent from the shores of Labrador and New-
foundland to the Pacific, and occupying a considerable belt of
the Temperate Zone, traversed equally with the United States
by the lakes, and enjoying the magnificent shores of the
St. Lawrence, with its thousands of islands in the river and
gulf — a region grand enough for the seat of a great empire. In
its wheat-fields in the west, its broad ranges of the chase at the
north, its inexhaustible lumber lands — the most extensive now
remaining on the globe — its invaluable fisheries, and its yet
im<listurbed mineral deposits, I see the elements of wealth. I
find its inhabitants vigorous, hardy, energetic, perfected by the
Protestant religion and British constitutional liberty. I find
them jealous of the United States and of Grreat Britain, as
they ought to be ; and therefore, when I look at their extent and
resources, I know they can neither be conquered by the former
nor permanently held by the latter. They will be independent,
as they are already self-maintaining. Having happily escaped
the curse of slavery, they will never submit themselves to the
domination of slaveholders, which prevails in and determines
the character of the United States. They will be a Eussia
behind the United States, which to them will be France and
England. But they will be a Eussia civilised and Protestant,
and that will be a very different Eussia from that which fills all
Southern Europe with terror, and by reason of that superiority
they will be the more terrible to the dwellers in the southern
latitudes.

The policy of the United States is to propitiate and secure
the alliance of Canada while it is yet young and incurious of
its future. But, on the other hand, the policy which the
United States actually piu-sues is the infatuated one of rejecting
and spurning vigorous, perennial, and ever-growing Canada,
while seeking to establish feeble States out of decaying Spanish
provinces on the coast and in the islands of the Gulf of
Mexico.

I shall not live to see it, but the man is already born who
will see the United States mourn over this stupendous folly,

254 APPENDIX III.

which is only preparing the way for ultimate danger and down-
fall. All Southern political stars must set, though many times
they rise again with diminished splendour. But those which
illuminate the pole remain for ever shining, for ever increasing
in splendour.

No. III.

THE INDIANS ON THE YOUCON, BY THE
REV. W. W. KIRKBY.*

On my arrival at the Youcon there were about 500 Indians
present, all of whom were astonished, but agreeably glad, to see
a missionary among them. They are naturally a fierce, turbu-
lent, and cruel race ; approximating more nearly to the Plain
tribes than to the quiet Chipewyans of the Mackenzie valley.
They commence somewhere about the 65° of N. L., and stretch
westward from the Mackenzie to Behring's Straits. They were
formerly very numerous, but wars, both among themselves and
with the Esquimaux, have sadly diminished them. They are,
however, still a strong and powerful people. They are divided
into many petty tribes, each having its own chief, as the Ta-
tlit-Kutchin (Peel's Eiver Indians), Ta-Klith-Kutchin (La-
piene's House Indians), Kutch a Kutchin (Youcon Indians),
Touchon-tay Kutchin (Wooded-country Indians), and many
others. But the general appearance, dress, customs, and habits
of all are pretty much the same, and all go under the general
names of Kutchin (the people) and Loucheux (squinters).
The former is their own appellation, while the latter was given
to them by the whites. There is, however, another division
among them, of a more interesting and important character
than that of the tribes just mentioned. Irrespective of tribe

* From a Paper communicated to the Institute of Rupert's Laud, Red
River Settlement, 1862.

APPENDIX III. 255

they are divided into three classes, termed respectively Chit-sa,
Nate-sa, and Tanges-at-sa — faintly representing the aristocracy,
the middle classes, and the poorer orders of civilised nations,
the former being the most wealthy and the latter the poorest.
In one respect, however, the}^ greatly differ, it being the rule
for a man not to marry in his own, but to take a wife from
either of the other classes. A Chit-sa gentleman will marry a
Tanges-at-sa peasant without the least feeling infra dig. The
offspring in every case belong to the class of the mother. This
arrangement has had a most beneficial effect in allaying the
deadly feuds formerly so frequent among them. I witnessed
one this summer, but it was far from being of a disastrous
nature. The weapons used were neither the native bow nor
imported gun, but the unruly tongue, and even it was used in
the least objectionable way. A chief, whose tribe was in dis-
grace for a murder committed the summer before, met the
chief of the tribe to which the victim belonged, and in the pre-
sence of all commenced a brilliant oration in favour of him and
his people, while he feelingly deplored his own and his people's
inferiority. At once in the most gallant way the offended chief,
in a speech equally warm, refused the compliments so freely
offered, and returned them all with interest on his antagonist.
This lasted for an hour or two, when the offender, by a skillful
piece of tactics, confessed himself so thoroughly beaten that he
should never be able to open his lips again in the presence of
his generous conqueror. Harmony, of course, was the inevitable
result.

The dress of all is pretty much the same. It consists of a
tunic or shirt reaching to the knees, and very much orna-
mented with beads and Hyaqua shells from the Columbia.
The trousers and shoes are attached, and ornamented with
beads and shells similar to the tunics. The dress of the women
is the same as that of the men, with the exception of the tunic
being round instead of pointed in front.

The beads above mentioned constitute the Indian's wealth.
They are strung up in lengths, in yards, and fathoms, and form
a regular currency among them ; a fathom being the standard.

256 APPENDIX III.

and equivalent to the ' Made Beaver ' of the Company. Some
tribes, especially the Kutch-a-Kutchin, are essentially traders,
and instead of hunting themselves they purchase their furs from
distant tribes, among whom they regularly make excursions.
Often the medicine-men and chiefs have more beads than they
can carry abroad with them, and when this happens the Com-
pany's stores are converted into banking establishments, where
the deposits are invested for safe keeping. The women are
much fewer in number, and live a much shorter time than the
men. The latter arises from their early marriages, harsh treat-
ment they receive, and laborious work which they have daily to
perform ; while the former is caused, I fear, by the cruel acts
of infanticide, which to female children have been so prevalent
among them. Praiseworthy efforts have been made by the
Company's officers to prevent it, but the anguished and hard-
ened mothers have replied that they did it to prevent the child
from experiencing the hardships they endured.

The men much reminded me of the Plain tribes, with their '

* birds and feathers, nose-jewels of tin, and necklaces of brass,' and
plentiful supply of paint, which was almost the first time I had
seen it used in the district. Instead of the nose-jewels being

* of tin,' they were composed of the Hyaqua shells, which gave
the expression of the face a singular appearance. The women
did not use much paint ; its absence was atoned for by tattooing,
which appeared universal among them. This singular custom
seems to be one of the most widely diffused practices of savage
life, and was not unknown among the ancients, as it, or some-
thing like it, seems to be forbidden to the Jews : ' Ye shall not
print any marks upon you,' Lev. xix. 28.

Polygamy, as in almost all other barbarous nations, is very
prevalent among them, and is often the source of much domestic
unhappiness among them. The New-Zealander multiplies his
wives for show, but the object of the Kutchin is to have a
greater number of poor creatures whom he can use as beasts of
burden for hauling of his wood, carrying of his meat, and per-
forming the drudgery of his camp. They marry young, but no
courtship precedes, nor does any ceremony attend, the union.

APPENDIX IV. 257

All that is requisite is the sanction of the mother of the girl,
and often it is a matter of negotiation between lier and the
suitor when the girl is in her childhood. The father has no voice
in the matter whatever, nor any other of the girl's relatives.

The tribes frequenting Peel's Eiver bury their dead on
stages, the corpse being securely enclosed in a rude coffin
made of hollowed trees." About the Youcon they were formerly
burnt, the ashes collected, placed in a bag, and suspended on
the top of a painted pole. Nightly wailings follow for a time,
when the nearest relative makes a feast, invites his friends, and
for a week or so the dead-dance is performed, and a funeral
dirge sung, after which all grief for the deceased is ended. I
witnessed their dance at the fort, and have been told by Qthers
that the dead-song is full of wild and plaintive strains, far
superior to the music of any other tribes in the country.

Altars or rites of religion they had none, and, before the
traders went away there, not even an idea of a Grod to be wor-
shipped. Medicine-men they have, in whose powers they
placed implicit faith, and whose aid they dearly purchased in
seasons of sickness or distress. They were emphatically a
people ' without God in the world.' Knowing their prejudices,
I commenced my labours among them with much fear and
trembling, but earnestly looking to God for help and strength,
and cannot doubt that both were granted. For before I left,
the medicine-men openly renounced their craft, polygamists
freely offered to give up their wives, murderers confessed their
crimes, and mothers told of deeds of infanticide that sickened
one to hear.

No. IV.

THE ESQUIMAUX OF ANDERSON'S RIVER.

Under date July 14, 1857, E. Macfarlane, Clerk at Fort
Good Hope, writes to James Alexander, Esq., Chief P'actor
Hon. H. H. Co., the following details respecting the Esquimaux —

VOL. II. S

258 APPENDIX IV.

Upper Esquimaux of Begh-ula or Anderson'' s River (Mac-
kenzie's Kiver District) : —

When an Esquimaux kills a deer, he drags the animal to
the water's edge, and sticks an arrow in it, so that on floating
past the lodges it may be taken possession of for the benefit of
the party by whom it has been killed.

The Esquimaux of Anderson's Kiver are fine specimens of
their race, lively, good-humoured, and affable. They clothe
themselves in trousers of deerskin, with the hair side next the
body ; shirts of the same material, and an outer shirt or coat
with the hair outside, with a hood fringed with the fur of the
wolf or wolverine ; boots or shoes of sealskin, watertight. The
crowns of their heads are closely cropped, and also the front
hair in a line with the forehead ; a few of them possess small
moustaches and imperials. The dress of the women differs
in being ornamented with beads, and possesses a short tail
appended to the hind part of the coat, which is tied in front.
The lofty top and side-hair knobs, so fashionable among the Es-
quimaux of the Mackenzie and Cape Bathurst, prevail among the
women of Anderson's River. The cayaks are precisely similar
to those in use among other tribes of Esquimaux ; and their
arms comprise a bow and a quiver of arrows, iron, bone, and
ivory-pointed ; a spear ; a long and short knife, and a long prong,
which they use in darting at wild fowl. Their lodges are
covered with half-dressed sealskins on slanting poles, the floor
covered with deerskins and robes. The Hare Indians hold
these Esquimaux in great fear, and are despised by them in
return, being called '• Nouga,^ or 'Spittle.' When Mr. Mac-
farlane enquired of them respecting Captain McClure's de7
spatches, it turned out that, although they knew nothing of
them, they were exceedingly fond of written or printed paper,
and were known to purchase the debt bills of the Hare Indians
for arrows, &c. They probably attribute a medicinal virtue
to paper with characters on.

The married women of the Anderson's River Esquimaux are
slightly tattooed. The Esquimaux of the Mackenzie are always
at enmity with the Loucheux.

APPENDIX IV. 259

Anderson's River rises near Bear Lake, drains the country
between the Mackenzie and the Coppermine River, and falls
into the Arctic Sea. The country is rich in fur-bearing animals,
and before the expedition of Macfarlane in 1857 it was wholly
imkuown. The upper part is hunted partially by the Hare and
Loucheux Indians, the lower by the Anderson's River Esqui-
maux. Ross River is an important affluent of Anderson's River,
so also is the Lockhart. The Loucheux Indians, called the
Batard Loucheux of the Esid of the Anderson, form lodges of
turf on poles.

The Anderson's River Esquimaux differ from the Western
Esquimaux of Mackenzie River ; they are friendly with Batard
I^oucheux, and hunt on tlie banks of the river for reindeer.
The coats of some of the Esquimaux met on the lower part of
Anderson's River were made of the skin of the Rocky Mountain
goat, which Mr. Macfarlane first supposed they had procured
from the Western Esquimaux ; but the people, who were in
great number, turned out to be Western Esquimaux, and were
very fierce, and after some short time stopped the canoes of the
expedition, which Mr. Macftirlane was compelled to abandon,
not without endangering the lives of the Hare Indians with him,
who were the first to abandon the canoes. Some of the Es([ui-
maux were recognised as trading at Red River Post. Some of
the Western Esquimaux and the Anderson's River Esquimaux
pass the winter together.

The zoology of Anderson's River, with the affluent Ross River,
comprises moose and reindeer, black bears, otters, wolves,
wolverines, siffleux beaver, musquash, martens, musks, squirrels,
rabbits, and foxes, also frogs and mice. Birds — Canada, laugh-
ing, snow, and Esquimaux geese, stork-king, teal, and long-tailed
ducks, divers, loons, swans, hawks, owls, swallows, gulls, plovers,
robins, snow-buntings, willow grouse, and ptarmigan.

s 2

260

APPENDIX V.

No. V.

CENSUS OF TPIE POPULATION OF MACKENZIE'S RIVER
DISTRICT, JUNE 1, 1858, FROM THE REPORT OF JAMES
ANDERSON, ESQ., CHIEF FACTOR.

Tribes

Married

Adults

Children

Total

Grand
Total

■a

"a
S

602
96

270
1,003

is

341
59

160
o74

0)

"a
B

(U

b

93
12

85
195

"3

S
1

.2

e

Slaves, Dog-Ribs. Hares, Chipew-
yans, and Yellow Knives,
who are all of the same race,
and speak, with slight va-
riations, the same dialect of
the Chipewyan language

Nahanies or Mountain Indians,
who speak a very corrupt
dialect of the Chipewyan

Loucheux or Koochin and Ba-
tard loiicheux (half Hare
and half Loucheux) : only
some words are understood
by the Slaves

530
94

239
892

662
98

318

521
76

202

1,533
251

717

1,21(

IS4

557
2,035

2,749
435

1,274

1,208

837

2,574

4,609

Female infanticide obtains among several of these tribes of
Indians, and is the cause of the discrepancy between the
number of males and females. The Hudson's Bay Company
have succeeded in putting a stop to this practice in a great mea-
sure. At the Youcon Post, at the confluence of the Red and
Youcon Rivers, moose is killed in abundance.

The Indian population in communication with the Youcon
Post are 474 males and 365 females ; they are a branch of the
Peel's River Loucheux (Koochin). The Youcon Indians in the
vicinity of the post are not hunters ; they make excursions
down the Youcon, and towards the coast, to trade with the
distant tribes, who appear to be a timid race, as they allow
themselves to be intimidated by the Youcon Indians, who either
take their furs at their own price or pillage them.

APPENDIX VI. 261

The favourite articles of trade with the Youcon Indians are
large white, blue, and red beads and Hyaquois shells, all of
which are used as a kind of currency.

Hyaquois shells cost about 32s. per niille, and are readily sold
fur martens and foxes at the rate of four to six per marten, and
from thirty-two to forty- eight per silver fox.

No. VI.

INDIxVN RACES TO THE NORTH OF THE CREE
HUNTING-GROUNDS.

The name Chipewyan is given to the ' Tinneh ' by the Crees
in derision ; it means dead dog, their real name being ' Tinneh.'

The Tinneh or Chipewyan tribe inhabit the country north
and north-west of English Eiver, Athabasca, and Mackenzie
Kiver district. They have various names, but all speak dialects
of the same tongue. Those who resort to Isle a la Croix, Fort
Athabasca, Fond du Lac, and Fort Resolution, Grreat Slave Lake,
are called Chipewyans ; those who resort to Forts Vermillion and
Dunnegan are called Beaver Indians, Another branch of the
tribe, called Siccannies or Thickcannies, inhabiting the foot of the
Eocky Mountains to the NW. of Peace River (and part of New
Caledonia to the west of the Rocky Mountains), resort to Forts
Dunnegan, Halkill, and'Liard. Another branch, called the
Yellow Knives, inhabiting the N. and NE. portions of Great
Slave Lake, resort to Fort Rae, on Great Slave Lake, and Fort
Simpson, and are denominated ' Dog-Ribs.' Proceeding down
the Maxjkenzie, the Slaves, another branch, resort to Forts
Simpson and Liard. The Hare Indians resort to Forts Norman
and Good Hope, and also to Fort Youcon to the west of the
mountains. The Nahannies or Mountain Indians resort to
all the forts between Forts Simpson and Peel's River. The
Loucheux and Nahannie dialects differ very much from the
Chipewyans, but are still evidently derived from the same root.

262 APPENDIX VII.

The woody part of the country to the right of Peace Eiver,
the upper part of Athabasca Eiver, and the tract of country
from Frog Portage, up the right of English Eiver, to and on
both banks of the Saskatchewan to Fort Pitt, is the home of the
Wood Crees, who resort chiefly to Lesser Slave Lake, Isle a la
Croix, Eapid Eiver, Green Lake, Cumberland, Carlton, Fort
Pitt, and Fort Pelly. On the upper part of the Saskatchewan
(Bow Eiver) is a tribe of Chipewyans called Sarcees or ' Blood
Indians.' The language of the Chipewyans has no affinity to
the Cree, and the square massive heads, short hands and feet,
point them out as quite a different race.

No. VII.

THE MORAVIAN MISSIONS IN LABRADOR, BY BROTHER
L. T. REICHEL.*

The triangular peninsula, the east coast of which, extending
from the Straits of Belle Isle to Hudson's Straits, and lying be-
tween the 52nd and 60th degrees of north latitude, and the
56th and 64th of west longitude, is called the coast of Labrador,
and forms a part of the British possessions in North America.
Its western coast is well known through the establishments and
factories of the Hudson's Bay Company. But the east coast,
along the Atlantic Ocean, is less known. The southern part of
it, from the Straits of Belle Isle to Cape Webuck, is thinly
settled by European colonists; the northern part, from Cape
Webuck to Cape Chudleigh, is the proper home of the Esqui-
maux, among whom we have the four above-named Mission
Stations. They are said to have received their name, Esqui-
maux, or eaters of raw flesh, from the Indians, their neighbours
in the west, and their dreaded enemies. They call themselves
* Innuit,' * men ;' the rest of mankind they designate * Kablunat,'

* From the 3Iissiunii Blatt.

APPENDIX VII. 263

* inferior beings.' These inhabitants of the coast of Labrador
are only one tribe of a race which is scattered over the whole
coast, from Greenland, round Baffin's Bay, as far as Behring's
Straits, all of whom speak the same language, though in various
dialects, and bear the common name ' Karalit.'

A hundred years ago the inhabitants of the coast of Labrador
were all heathen, who, in the ignorance and blindness of their
hearts, worshipped Torngak, an old man, as they supposed, who
ruled the sea and its inhabitants, and Supperuksoak, the goddess
of the land. The Angekoks, or sorcerers, held the people com-
pletely in superstitious bondage. By the Europeans they were
dreaded, even as far as Newfoundland, for their robberies, which
were often accompanied by murder. Permission was therefore
readily granted to the Brethren, when, pursuant to a resolution
of the Synod, held at Marienborn in 1769, they made known to
the British Grovernment their desire to commence a mission
among these heathen. Previous to this date several exploratory
journeys had been made to this coast. As is well known,
Br. J. C. Ehrhardt was murdered, together with five sailors, by
the savages in a bay to the south of Hopedale, in the year 1752.
The four Brethren who accompanied him returned home. In
the year 1770, Jens Haven came to Labrador, and took posses-
sion of the land which had been granted by the Crown to the
Society for the Furtherance of the Grospel for the purposes of
the Mission. In the year following, Nain was begun to be built;
two years afterwards, Br. Paul Eugene Layritz, of the Unity's
Elders' Conference, held a visitation of the Mission, in conse-
quence of which Okak was commenced in 1776, and Hopedale
in 1782. Hebron was begun in 1830.

The land is a land of rocks and crags. On the farther sea-
ward of the numberless islands which line the coast, there is
not the slightest trace of vegetation ; they are the abodes of sea-
gulls and eider ducks. The mainland, on the contrary, at least
the southern half, is here and there green ; besides underwood,
the fir, the birch, and larch, grow in the more sheltered bays.
Many Alpine plants occur, various species of saxifrage and
gentians, Erigeron alpinum, Empetrum iiifjrum, &c. To a

2G4 APPENDIX VII,

great distance inland, mountains and morasses, lakes and moss-
covered plains, are the uniform character of the country ; islands,
bays, and rocks, that of the coast. The chief mountains are the
Kiglapeit, lat. 57°, 3,500 feet high, which divides the north
from the south coast, and the still higher Kaumajet between
Okak and Hebron. The country is covered with snow and ice
during more than two-thirds of the year, so that the inhabitants
must seek their subsistence in huntingr and fishinw. The sea
affords many rich spoils, the most important of which is the
seal, of which there are five species. The flesh of these animals
is the chief food of the Esquimaux. From 3,000 to 4,000 of
them ave taken on an average in a year at our four Stations. Tt
is affirmed that the number of those caught along the whole
coast, partly in nets, partly in kayaks, exceeds a million. Their
number is said to be now decreasing, in consequence of which
more attention is paid than formerly to fishing. Cod, salmon,
and trout are the principal fish. The quadrupeds indigenous
to the country are, besides the dogs, the reindeer, bears, wolves,
foxes, and hares.

The number of the Esquimaux dwelling along the coast, wliich
is about 500 miles in length, is computed at about 1,500, of
whom 1,163 belong to our Mission. There are about 200 heathen
living to the north of Hebron, and there are said to be others
scattered here and there, but their number cannot be consider-
able, and some are settled at the establishments of the Hudson's
Bay Company. In stature the Esquimaux are short, with
large heads, black hair, scanty beard, coarse but not stupid
features, and small hands and feet. The women are very clever
at their occupations, such as sewing skin garments or boots of
seal-skin, and in cleaning fish with knives of their own manu-
facture, with which an operation for cataract has ])een success-
fully performed. The men are quite at home in carpenter's
work, the building of their boats, &c. Most important to them
for procuring their livelihood is the kayak, built of wood and
covered with seal-skin. The larger women's boats, covered with
skin, which were formerly most used, are rarely seen. They
are replaced by boats of wood for fishing and sailing, to the

APPENDIX YII. 265

size of eiu-lit tons. The Esquimaux can sustain life on a
very small quantity of food, and still be cheerful. From the
above brief description of the country, it is evident that the
Esquimaux must ever remain a huntsman and fisherman.
In this way alone can he obtain a livelihood in his sterile
country.

The New-year finds our Esquimaux flocks assembled at the
Mission Stations in their winter houses. At this time of the
year the attendance at church and school is the best, and the
spiritual work of the Mission proceeds regularly. The chief
occupation is the capture of the ptarmigan and catching foxes.
For the latter, traps are used, and much fatigue is frequently
endured, as the traps, which are often placed at a great distance
from home, must be visited daily, for fear of their being carried
off by wolves. At this season, both men and women are em-
ployed by the Mission to cleave wood and clear away snow, for
which they receive payment. In February, many of them
repair in sledges to the ice along the sea-shore, to catch seals in
their kayaks, if they meet with open water ; carrying with them
in general, besides their gun, a telescope, to discover the seal at
a distance. On these expeditions they are often exposed to
danger by the sudden breaking up of the ice. Towards Easter,
the boats are repaired or new ones built. During Passion week
all make a point of assembling at the Stations. After Easter
they usually go inland to hunt reindeer, especially from the
northern stations, where the deer abound more than in the
south. At the end of June, eggs are gathered on the islands,
and the fishing season commences, which lasts till September,
when the haddocks are taken. If the weather is wet, great loss
often arises from the spoiling of the fish hung up to dry.
Salmon and salmon-trout are salted for winter consumption.
In October the Esquimaux repair to the Stations for nets to
catch seals, and remain there in general till Christmas. This is
the chief season for the taking of seals ; at times they are cut
off from the sea by the sudden formation of ice in the bays,
when they can be shot in great numbers. As is well known,
the sledges are drawn by dogs — properly speaking, a species of

2G6

APPENDIX VII.

wolf, which must be governed by fear. It has often occurred
that human beings have been attacked and devoured by them.
A few years ago, a distemper carried off almost all of them, but
their numbers are now again increasing. There are at present
222 of these useful animals at our four Stations.

Ilopedale contains 35 houses, with 46 families, and 248 individuals
Nain „ 32 „ 55 „ 275 „

Okak „ 36 „ 75 „ 327 „

Hebron „ 25 „ 68 „ 313

Total

128 houses

244 families 1,163 individuals

Sailing-boats at Ilopedale 9, Nain 10, Okak 12, Hebron 2
Fishing-boats „ 40 „ 20 „ 14 „ 10

Skin-boats „ ••• >j ^ v 4 „ ^

Kayaks „ 49 „ 58 „ 61 „ 46

Tents „ 27 „ 23 „ 31 „ 38

Our consfregations number : —

Communicants
Baptised Adults
Baptised Children
Candidates for Baptism
Excluded
Unbaptised
New People

at Ilopedale 74, Nain 95, Okak 119, Hebron 70

„ 107

6

„ 31

29

70

V

66

, 86

85

V

94

, 104

1

}f

2

17

>;

17

, 15

...

V

1

„ 3

1

V

,

Total

248

275

'A3

In all, 1,163 persons.

APPENDIX VIII.

267

No. vni.

STATISTICS OF THE NORTH SHORE OF THE RIVER AND
GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE, FROM PORT NEUF TO L'ANSE
AUX BLANCS SABLONS, 540 MILES OF SEA-SHORE, IN
18G1, WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF CANADA.

Resident Population 4,41o

French Canadians

AjQglo-Canadians

English

French

Americans .

Italians

Poles .

Indians

2,612

628

308

24

5

2

1

833

Roman Catholics 3,841

Protestants ........ 570

Jews 2

Fishermen 1,755

Himters 1,038

Proprietors of Beach Cots 332

Houses

380

Horses

12

Cows .

65

Oxen .

18

Sheep .

59

Pigs .

22

Extent of cultivated Land, in arpeuts

67i

Number of Roman Catholic Churches

9

Number of Roman Catholic resident Priests

2

Number

of Protestant Churches ....

1

Number

of Resident Protestant Ministers .

1

INDEX

ABENAKIS, or Abenqtiois, Indians,
i. 5, 7)ote

— their villages in Canada, i. 5, 7iote

— population of the tribe, i. 5, note

— former extent of their hunting
grounds, i. 5, 7iote

— meaning of the name, i. 5, 7iote

— their loyalty during the first Ameri-
can War, i. 5, 7iote

— their former trade with the Algon-
quins, i. 5, 7iote

Abies baisami, or Canada balsam, use

of the, in frost-bites, i. 189
Acadia, origin of the name, li. 44
Acadian settlers at Natashquan, ii. 131

— village at Esquimaux Point, ii. 151

— and at Natashquan, ii. 153
Agriculture in the island of Anticosti,

ii. 74
Albanel, Pere, his journey from the
Gulf of St. Lawrence to Hudson's
Bay, ii. 22

— and across the neck of the Labrador
Peninsula, ii. 147

Alcedo alcyon, or Kingfisher, on the

Sixth Lake, i. 173
Algonquin Indians, their beaver trade,

i. 5, Tiote

— slaughter of the, on the St. Maurice
river, i. 273

— and on the Vermillion river, i 273

— settlement of Hochelaga, ii. 2

• — attempts of the Jesuits to induce
them to return to the island of Mon-
treal, ii. 4

- — skeletons and relics disinterred at
Montreal, ii. 5

— history of the Algonquins, ii. 6

— return of the Algonquins of the St.
Lawrence valley to a nomadic life.

Amalicite Indians of Canada, strength
of the tribe of, i. 6, 7iute

— their dwelling-place, i. 6, 7iote

— their principal settlements in New
Brunswick, i. 6, 7iote

Ambro and Ambro-sis, i. 188

' American cotton ' tents in rainy wea-
ther, i. 37

Ammonia, value of the phosphate of,
i. 313, 7wle

Anchor ice, ii. 209

— Mr. Keefer's notes on anchor ice,
ii. 209-211, note

Anderson, Mr., of Mingan, his journal
referred to, i. 339

— his kindness, ii. 95
Animals of Labrador : —

caribou, or reindeer, i. 8, 213

fur-bearing animals, i. 8

none seen in the woods on the

Moisie at the Grand Portage, i. 36
nor on the gneiss hills, i. 42
causes of scarcity of game in the

valley of the Moisie, i. 8i
seals in the Moisie, i. 96
animal life at the first falls of the

river Moisie, i. 98
moose, i. 121
absence of animal life at the Lake

where the Sand lies, i. 127
saw-bill ducks, i. 137
mosquitoes and black flies, i. 139,

187
trout in immense numbers in the

rapids of Cold Water River, i. 142
otters on the Sixth Lake, i. 172
kingfishers on the Sixth Lake, i. 173
bears, i. 183,211
dogs and bear-hunting, i. 184
porcupines, i. 185
trout in a small stream, i. 186

270

INDEX.

ANI

Animals of Labrador ^ro«^//i»ec?
wolves, i. 193
animals of Labrador compared with

those of the valley of the Saskat-
chewan, i. 223
animals in former times in Labrador,

i. 224
absence of animal life in the Burnt

Country, i. 235
animal life along the coast of the

Moisie Bay, i. 318
wild fowl of Seven Islands, i. 320
herring and mackerel of Seven

Islands, i. 320
whiskey jack, or Canadian jay, ii.

15
animal life in the Bay of Seven Is-
lands, ii. 29
puffins, vast numbers of, on the

Perroquets, ii. 48
walruses formerly in the Bay of St.

Lawrence, ii. 49
swarms of fish in the Bayof Chaleurs,

ii. C7
Bwarms of gannets on the Bird Rocks,

ii. 67
other birds which breed on the Bird

Rocks, ii. 68
fish and quadrupeds of the island of

Anticosti, ii. 70
absence of reptiles on the island of

Anticosti, ii. 70
curious migration of animals on the

river St. Augustine every third or

fourth year, ii. 135
Labrador dogs, ii. 155
animal life on the north-east coast

eighty years since, ii. 192
Anser bernicla, or brent goose, i. 1 6

— its habits, i. 17, note
Anticosti, Island of, ii. 49

— discovery and former names of, ii. 69

— its area and extent, ii. 70

— its dense forests of dwarf spruce on
the coast, ii. 70

— and timber in the interior, ii. 70

— abundance of fish, ii. 70

— animals of the island, ii. 70

— absence of good natural harbours,
ii." 70

— establishment of provision posts on,
ii. 71

— Mr. Roche's observations on the
navigation of the island, ii. 71, note

— Mr. Richardson's survey, ii. 72

— soil of the island, ii. 72, 78, 79

— trees, ii. 72, 73, 82

— fruit-bearing trees and shrubs, ii. 73

Asn

Anticosti, Island of — continued

— wild peas, ii. 74

— agricultural capabilities of the is-
land, ii. 74

— climate of the island, ii. 76, 79, 80

— fogs, ii. 76

— cattle, ii. 76, 83

— Mr. Richardson's remarks on the
only two natural harbours, ii. 76

— extent of the peat plains, ii. 78

— squared timber scattered over the
south coast, ii. 79

— level character of the island, ii. 79

— importance of Anticosti to Canada,
ii. 81, 85

— salt and salines on the coast, ii. 82

— economic materials existing in the
island, ii. 83

— fisheries on the coast, ii. 83
Arctic current, passage by which it

finds its way to the Gulf of St. Law-
rence, ii. 60
Arkaske, the Indian, at Seven Islands,
i. 321

— Arkaske in the Roman Catholic
chapel, i. 337

— invited to dinner, i. 341

— his physique, i. 345

Arnaud, Pere, his description of a salt-
water spring at the foot of a hill, i.
195, 196

— his description of a voyage up the
Manicouagan river, i. 196

— his difficulties, i. 198-200

— his return, i. 200

— his account of Indian cannibalism
quoted, i. 244

— his influence over the Indians, i. 332

— an instance of his charity, self-
denial, and daring, i. 332

— his departure from Seven Islands,
i. 350

— his evidence of the condition of the
Montagnais Indians, ii. 119

Arrows of the Nasquapee Indians, i.

292; ii. 106
Ascension Isle, a name of Anticosti, ii.

69
Ash, mountain, of Anticosti, ii. 73
Ashwanipi Lake, i. 10

— full of ice in June, i. 81
Ashwanipi, or Hamilton River, i. 12

— its existence mentioned by Mr. W.
H. A. Davies in 1842, i. 12

— his description of it quoted, i. 13

— its falls and rapids, i. 13

— its supposed source, i. 13

— its course to the sea, i. 14

IXDEX.

271

Asn

Ashwanipl River — conlinued

— Father Laure's map of it, i. 34

— vegetation of the valley of the
Moisie at the Grand Portage, i. 36

— its width at various places, ii. 136

— the great falls, ii. 136

— description of the river below Fort
Nasquapee, ii. 137

— and of the valley a hundred miles
from Hamilton Inlet, ii. 139

Assikinack, Francis, an Odahwah
warrior, account of him, i, 61, nute

— his ' Legends and Traditions of the
Odahwah Indians,' 1. 61, nute

— his description of the mode of bring-
ing up children among the Odahwah
Indians of Lake Huron, i. 177, note

Assomption, a name of Anticosti, ii. 69
Assuapmushan, foundation of the mis-
sion of, ii. 26
A-ta-chi-ka-mi-shish, or Cold Water
River, i. 34, 112, 139

— its series of cascades, i. 139, 166

— great numbers of trout in, i. 142
Atik-min, or caribou-food, i. 214
Atshem, the evil deity of the Nasqua-

pees, ii. 102
Auks, red- billed, on the Bird Rocks,

ii. 68
Aurora borealis, Indian superstition

respecting the, i. 283

BABEL, Pere, his description of a
Roman Catholic missionary sta-
tion, ii. 178
Baddeley, Captain, liis statement re-
specting earthquakes in Labrador, i.
257

— his description of the basaltic
columns in Henley Harbour, ii. 145

Bailloquet, Pere Pierre, his visit to
various tribes of Indians, ii. 20

Bake-apple, the, of the Ungava dis-
trict, ii. 145

Balsam, spruce, its healing value, i.
109

— resinous matter of the, i. 165

— one on fire, i. 165

— an excellent remedy for frost-bites,
i. 189

— balsam fir of the island of Anti-
costi, ii. 73

Barley grown on Anticosti, ii. 75
Bartelmi, meeting with, at Seven

Islands, i. 321
Basaltic columns of Henley Harbour,

ii. 145

EEA

Bath, the vapour, a common remedy

among all Indians, i. 189
— - of the Indian conjurors, ii. 14
Battle Harbour, the English church at,

ii. 195
Bay, Blanc Sablon, i. 300

Bradore, i. 300

of Chaleurs, i. 329 ; ii. 56, 67

Ellis or Gamache, ii. 73, 76

Forteau, ii. 195

Fox, ii. 76

Gamache, ii. 73, 76

its naval importance, ii. 81

Gaspe, ii. 55, 57, 90

Hudson's, ii. 91

Magpie, i. 300 ; ii. 89

Mai, ii. 59, 67

Moisie, i. 16, 296

Mutton, i. 300

Pleasant, i. 329

Red, ii. 197

Salmon, i. 300

of Seven Islands, i. 9 ; ii. 27 et
seq.

of Sr. Augustine, ii. 135

St. Paul's, ii. 130

of Tabatiere, sterile character of the
coast of the, ii. 136

Ungava, ii. 91, 188
Bayfield, Admiral, his surveys of the

coast of Labrador, i. 9

— his remarks on the disturbance of
the compass in the Gulf and river of
St. Lawrence, ii. 46

— on the utility of the barometer in
the estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence,
ii. 57

— on the currents of the Gulf, ii. 58

— his observations on the temperature
of the air and water of the estuary of
the St. Lawrence, ii. 63, note

— liis suggestions as to the cause of
fogs in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and
on the banks of Newfoundland, ii.
64

— his description of the Atlantic
swell on the coast of Labrador, ii.
185

Beads, porcelain ''wampum), the trade

of tlie Abenakis Indians in, i. 5,

note
Bear-food, or mask-i-min, the berry so

called, i. 184, 189
Bear Lake, view of, i. 213
Beard moss, i. 232
Bears, tracks of, on the banlis of the

Moisie, i. 72, 76

— a bear- path, i. 76

272

INDEX.

BEA

Bears — continued

— a bear's skull stuck on a dead
branch, i. 183

— Indian superstition respecting it, i.
1S3

— anecdote of a bear, i. 1 83

— dogs scenting bears in the ■winter,
i. 184

— bear hunts, i. 184

— ferocity of the bear, i. 184, 185

— singular custom of the Montagnais
when a bear was brought into camp,
ii. 15

Beaver, tracks of, on the banks of the
Moisie, i. 70

— their habits, as described by an
Indian hunter, i. 7 1

— small value set upon their skins, i.
71

— Indian mode of sounding for beaver,
i. 71

— a beaver meadow near Cold Water
River Portage, i. 117, 118

— beaver-meadows and beaver-houses
at Level Portage, i. 130

— tracks of beaver near Lake Nipisis,
i. 202, 212

— Beaver skins, trade of the Abena-
kis Indians with the Algonquios in,
i. 5, note

Be^ancour, in Canada, the Abenakis

Indians of, i. 5, note
Belle Isle, Straits of, current at the, ii.

59

— passage of the Arctic current
through the, ii. 60

— importance of ice signals at the
lighthouse on, ii. 61

Belrga Borealis, or white whale, ii. 90
Bersamits River, i. 7 ; ii. 43

— effects of an earthquake on the
waters of the, i. 255

Bic Island, ii. 55

Birch trees on the shores of Moisie
Bay, i. 1 6

— of the Moisie river, i. 23

— of the valley of the Moisie, i. 46

— large size of the birch at the second
gorge of the Moisie, i 104

— magnificent birch trees near the
Nipisis Lake, i. 218

— birch buds eaten by the Indians in
times of scarcity, i. 242

— size of the canoe birch at the Top
of the Ridge Lake, i. 151

— white and yellow, of the island of
Anticosti. ii. 73

— birch-bark canoes, ii. 122

BRA

Birch — Continued

— lodges of the Nasquapees, ii. 106
Bird Rocks, ii. 59, 67

— abundance of gannets on the, ii. 67

— dangers to navigation of the, ii. 68
Birds in Moisie Bay, i. 16

— wild-fowl destroyed in the burning
forests, i. 209

— the saw-bill duck, i. 137
Blackflies on the shores of the Lake

where the Sand lies, i. 129

— torment of, i. 139

— a voyageur's legend as to their
creation, i, 140

Blanc Sablon Bay, abundance of the
cod fish at, i. 300

— the eastern boundary of Canada,
i. 9

Blindness, an Indian afflicted with,
i. 199

— cause of his misfortune, i. 199
Blindness, night. See Night-blindness
Bloodroot (Sanguinaria Canadensis),

usid by the Indians as a medicine,

i. 191, note
Blue-berries, fondness of the bear for,

i. 184
Bones of animals, Indian superstitions

respecting the, i. 185

— the Indian game of, i. 277
Bouchette, Joseph, his ignorance of the

existence of the Moisie river, i. 11.
Boulders of the rapids of the river
Moisie, i. 29

— colossal erratics of the valleys, hill-
sides, and mountain tops of the
Labrador Peninsula, i. 31, 32

— symmetrically arranged boulders
near the Grand Portage, i. 43

— in the bed of the Moisie at the
second gorge, i. 106

— on the shores of Lake Nepisis, i. 194
— ■ on the uppermost edge of gneiss

terraces, i. 133

— in the bed of the Nipisis river, i. 209

— of the Burnt Portage, i. 222

— covered with moss, i. 223

— tiers of bare boulders in the Burnt
Country, i. 225

— immense numbers of erratics in the
country near Caribou Lake, i. 235

Boule Island, Great, height of the, ii. 30
Bows and arrows of the Nasquapees,

i. 292; ii. 106
Bradore Bay, abundance of cod-fish at,

i. 300

— discovery of the bay, ii. 126

— town of Brest in, ii. 127

INDEX.

273

BRA

Bradorc Hills, the, ii. 183

Brandy Pots, the, ii. 55

Breakfast, cooking, iu the woods, i. 164

— an Indian's breakfast, i. IGo
Brent geese {Anser bernichi), on the

coast of Labrador, i. 16, 17

— their habits, i. 17, 7iote

Brest, town of, in Bradore Bay, ii. 127

— its former importance, ii. 127

■ — its present ruinous condition, ii. 127
• — causes of its decay, ii. 127
Breton, Cape, ii. 66
■ — former importance of, to the French,
ii. 216

— the Gut of Canso, ii. 218
Breton Island, ii. 66

Brockville, Indian relics found near,

ii. 8
Bruce, Mr. Duncan, his manufacture of

fish manure combined with calcined

shale, i. 311

— analysis of two specimens of manure
made from the menhadden, i. 313

Brulots, torment of, i. 140

— legend respecting it, i. 140
Brunswick, New, the Anialicite In-
dians of, i. 6, note

— the Micmacs of, i. 6, 7iofe

— coal field of, ii. 82
Buchan Falls, ii. 40
Burial-places of the Indians, ii. 8

— of the Labradorians, ii. 165
Burial rites of the Montagnais, Nasqua-

pees, and Swampy Crees, i. 170-172
Burnt Country, in the valley of Cold

"Water River, i. 145, 221
• — a walk to the Burnt Country, i. 225

— tiers of bare boulders, i. 225

— oases in the desert, i. 226

— remaikable disposition of erratics
near Caribou Lake, i. 229

Burnt Portage, or Kes-ca-po-swe-ta-

gan, i. 222
Byron Island, ii. 69

CABOT, Jean and Sebastian, their
discovery of Newfoundland, ii. 126
Cache, Indian mode of forming a, to
protect furs from the carcajoii, i. 50

— a cache of tobacco, i. 1 1 6

— a cache made by the Nasquapee
Indians, i. 201

Camp, an Indian, in the winter, in the

interior of Labrador, i. 246
Canada balsam. See Balsam, Canada
Canada, ' Dark Day s ' of, probable causes
of the, i. 251, 262

VOL. II.

CAP

Canada — continued

— the Dark Days of 1786, i. 254

— Chief Justice Sewell's account, i. 251

— accounts of those of 1814, i. 252

— attributed by the Chief Justice to
volcanic action, i. 254

— eastern limit of, as settled by Act
of Parliament, i. 9; ii. 130

— grouse, Indian mode of snaring the,
i. 174

— Mr. Bell's description quoted, i. 174

— Mr. Mallet's list of earthquakes
which have occurred in, i. 259

— remarks of the Hon. W. H. Seward
on the future of, ii. 252

— Upper, famine during the early his-
tory of, i. 85

' Canadian,' loss of the, ii. 61

Caniapuscaw, Lake, and the country
around, ii. 142

Cauis occidentalis, (gray or strong-
wood wolf), eifects of strychnine on
the, i. 27

Cannibalism of the inhabitants of the
north-eastern portion of the Labra-
dor Peninsula, i. 16

— instances of the occurrence of
amongst the Nasquapee Indians, ii.
244

Canoe, landing through the surf iu a,
ii. 93

— canoes best adapted for the explora-
tion of Labrador, i. 1

— their size, weight, and capacity, i. 2

— canoes adapted to the rivers of La-
brador, i. 6

— leaky canoes, i. 18

— Louis's mode of treating a leaky one,
i. 19

— an accident to a canoe at the
second gorge of the Moisie, i. 105

— their astonishing strength in ascend-
ing a rapid river, i. 107

— a canoe race on the Lake where the
Sand lies, i. 128

— building Indian canoes — squaws
stitching ihe birch-bark, ii. 122

Canso, Gut of, ii. 67, 218
Cape Breton, ii. 66, 216

— Chat, ii. 57

— Chudleigh, ii. 143

— Despair, ii. 81

— Eagle, ii. 76

— Henry, ii. 76

— Mecatina, ii. 183

— Porcupine, ii. 218

— Ray, ii. 58,59-

— Rosier, ii, 49

274

INDEX.

CAP

Cape — co?i tinned

— Whittle, ii. 136

Caplin, abundance of the, along the
coast of Canada, i. 298

— the chief food of the cod at one
period of the year, i. 299, 302

Captain, a, of the Gulf of St. Lawrence,

ii. 87
Carcajou, wolverine, or glutton {Gulo

Liiscus), its habitat, i. 48

— its havoc among the marten traps,
i. 49

— how caught by Pierre, i. 49

— Indian mode of making a cache to
protect furs from the carcajou, i. 50

— the carcajou's desire for accumu-
lating property, i. 52

Carelton Bay, cod fishery of, i. 300
Caribou, or reindeer, former richness
of Labrador in, i. 8

— unexpected sight of tracks of the ca-
ribou on the banks of the Moisie, i. 68

— causes of the scarcity of caribou
at the present time, i. 84

— caribou skin-lodges of the Nasqua-
pees, ii. 106

— length of the bound of the caribou,
ii. 106

— shun the country at Level Portage,
i. 130

— a famous deer-pass, i. 147

— herd of deer in the rocks near Cold
Water River, i. 1 47

— caribou tracks near Trout Lake, i.
176

— herd of caribou near Trout Lake, i.
183

— their caution, i. 183

— Indian ancient custom respecting the
antlers of a deer, i. 186

— season for hunting the, i. 199

-- driven away from the hunting
grounds by wolves, i. 199

— splendid pair of caribou horns found
near Nipisis Lake, i. 202

— caribou seen near the Nipisis river,
i. 213

— importance of the caribou to the
Montagnais and Nasquapee Indians,
i. 213, 214

— habits of the animal, according to
Audubon and Bachman, i. 213, note

■ — their food on the mountains in sum ■
mer, i. 214

— their singular and characteristic pe-
regrinations, i. 214

— Forester's description of the animal,
i. 215

CAT

Caribou — continued

— difficulties of caribou-hunting,
215

— only time at which he can be run
down, i. 216

— caribou-hunting in the summer
season, i. 217

— ■ caribou feasts of the Montagnais

and Nasquapee Indians, i. 239
- — chase of caribou by wolves, i. 242

— caribou skin-dresses of the Nas-
quapees, i. 292

— fondness of the Nasquapees for cari-
bou fat, i. 324

— caribou skin used by the Nasqua-
pees for clothing, i 325

— Nasquapee arrows for killing the
caribou, ii. 106

Caribou food, or At'.k-min of the In-
dians, i. 214
Caribou Lake, i. 228, 229

— cache made at, i. 228

— utter desolation of the burnt country
near, i. 229, 234

— view from a hill near, i. 234

— Michel's wild hunt near, i. 242
Caribou moss {Chidonkt rangiferina'),

its importance to the Indians of North
America as well as to the Laplanders,
i. 230

— treacherous walking in the, i. 223
Cariole, Point de, ii. 90

Cartier, Jacques, his visit to the Indian
village of Ilochelaga, ii. 2

— his account of the marvellous fishes
of Seven Islands, ii. 27

— his description of the Micmac In-
dians, ii. 44

Cartwright, his description of the Mon-
tagnais in 1786, ii. 26

— his melancholy description of the
Atlantic coast of Labrador, ii. 184

— his account of the vegetation of the
north-east coast, ii. 191

Cascades of Cold Water River, i. 139,
166

— the great falls of the Ashwanipi
river, ii. 137

— on the rocks of the Sixth Lake, i.
172

— of Buchan Falls, ii. 40

— of Ilatteras river, ii. 40

— of Manitou river, ii. 40

— of the Magpie river, ii. 45

— of the Mistassinni river, ii. 147

' Castors,' trading by, with the Indians,

ii. 1 18, note
' Cats.' See Lynx

INDEX.

275

CAV

Caverns on Saddle Island, ii. 146
Chaleurs, Bay of, immense numbers of
herrings caught in the, i. 329

— roads from the Bay to the Thetis
river, and to the St. Lawrence at St.
Plavien, ii. 56

— description of its natural features,
ii. 67

— its importance as a port for steamers,
ii. 81

— its extent across the entrance, ii. 81
Champlain, his visit to the site of the

Indian village of Ilochelaga, ii. 3
Chaouan Indians, their former alliance

•with the Abenakis, i. 5, note
Charlevoix, his description of the

earthquake of 16G3, i. 255
Chat, Cape, ii. 57
Chat river, ii. 57
Cherry, wild (Pniniis Virgineana), the

bark of, used by the Indians as a

medicine, i. 191, note
Chimo, Fort, ii. 140, 141
Chipewyan, meaning of the name, ii.

261
Chi-sche dec river, ii. 27
Chisedeck Indians, ii. 27
Chit-holm, Mr., his account of the

Montagnais Indians, ii. 120

— his account of the region drained by
the rivers St. Jolm, Mingan, Ouna-
neme, and Natashquan, ii. 134

Chudleigh, Cape, ii. 143
Church of England missions on the
Gulf and coast of Labrador, ii. 194

— brief history of the Church on the
Labrador, ii. 195

Cladonia gracilis, or red-cup lichen,
i. 232

— rangiferina, or Caribou moss. See
Caribou moss

Clay, grayish blue coloured, of the

banks of the Moisie river, i. 25
Climate of Anticosti, ii. 76

— of Labrador, variableness of, i. 38,
42

— extraordinary fall in the tempera-
ture on the dividing ridge between
Lakes Superior and Winnipeg, i. 39

— parity of the air of the hills at the
Grand Portage of the Moisie, i. 42

— difference between it and that of
the valley of the Saskatchewan, i.
223

■ — ice in July, i. 268

— of Moisie Bay, i. 16

Clothing of the Nasquapce Indians,
i, 325

COL
an effective agent for

the

Coal-tar,

destruction of insects, i. 312

Coal-field of New Brunswick, ii. 82

Cocquart, Pere Claude- Godefroy, ap-
pointed to the Saugenay mission,
ii. 26

Cod fish, immense numbers of, caught
and cured at the mouth of the Moisie
Bay, i. 296

— shoals of, which visit the "whole of
the Canadian coast, i. 298

— depth at which it is generally found,
i. 299

— its chief food at one period of the
year, i. 299, 3U2

— time of its appearance on the Ca-
nadian coasts, i. 299

— its favourite feeding grounds, i. 299

— places along the coast at which it is
most abundant, i. 300

— immense numbers of fish taken in a
single haul of the seine, i. 300

— bait used for cod, i. 300, 302

— mode of fishing with lines, i. 301

— process of curing cod, i. 302, et seq.
■ — months most favourable for cod

fishing, i. 302

— appearance of a fishing establish-
ment on the coast of Gaspe or that
of Labrador, i. 303

— mode of landing the fish from the
fishing boats, i. 303

— process of curing cod desciibed, i.
303

— and of drving it, i. 305

— disposal of fish offal, i. 308

— value of the annual produce of the
North American cod fisheries, i. 31 1

— abundance of the cod-fish round
the Mingan Islands, ii. 48

— cod-fishing in the Gulf of St. Law-
rence, ii. 92

— Mr. Hamilton of New Carlisle,
ii. 95

— importance and value of the cod
fishery of Newfoundland, ii. 234

Colds, precautious against, on the jour-
ney, i. 176
Cold Water Falls, i. 129
Cold Water Biver, i. 34, 112, 139

— its cascades, i L39, 166

— immense numbers of trout in the
rapids, i. 112, 142

— timber of, i. 118, 119

— Styx -like appearance of the river,
i.ll9

— immense fall of the ri\er iu 1200
yards, i. 130

T 2

276

INDEX.

COL

Cold Water River — continued

— the burnt track of country in the
valley of, i. 146

— magnificent mountains through
M-hich the river has forced a passage,
i. 160

— lake in which it takes its rise, i. 175

— falls of the river in a course of
twenty miles, i. 175

— lakes of Cold Water River as seen
from the Trout Lake, i. 181

— Louis' accident at, i. 279

Cold Water River portage on the

Moisie, i. Ill
Comets, Indian superstitions respecting,

i. 288
Commetique, or dog-sledge, of Labrador,

ii. 157, 158
Commission, Canadian, to inquire into

the condition of the Indians, ii. 117
Compass, an Indian's superstitious awe

of a, i. 269. 270

— the Nasquapee and the compass, i.
346

■ — causes of the disturbance of the
compass in the Gulf and river of St.
Lawrence, ii. 46
• — and at the Mlngan Islands, ii. 48
Conjurors, vapour-baths of the, ii. 14

— outrages of the Crees and Mustegans
induced by the conjurors, ii. 16

— aversion of the Oumamiwek to con-
jurors, ii. 22

— conjurors of the Nasquapees, ii. 102
Conjuror's Falls, ii 43

Cooking in the woods, i. 164

— difficulties of, i. 165

— Indian mode of cooking meat, ii. IS
Cornus alba, vel stolonifera, used as a

purgative by the Indians, i. 189
Cortereal, Gaspar de, his discoveries, ii.
108

— said to have discovered Labrador,
ii. 126

Coudres, Isle au, white whales off the,

ii. 90
Courtmanches, Count de, and the French

settlements in Labrador, ii. 128, 129
Cow, a, stalked by a Nasquapee, i. 293
Cranberry, the \\\^^\i (^Vihenmm opulus),

abundance of, on Anticosti, ii. 73

— the low cranberry, ii. 74

Cree Indians, similarity of their lan-
guage to that of the Montagnais, i.
33

— resemblance between their dialect
and that of the Montagnais Indians,
i. 33

DOG

Cree Indians - coni'mued
■ — their universal remedy for sickness,
i. 34

— their fondness for gambling, i. 283

— extent of country occupied by them,
ii. 10

— and of their hunting-grounds, ii.
110

— the Swampy —

— their burial rites, i. 170

— their outrages against the whites,
induced by their conjurors, ii. 16

Currants, red and black, abundance of,

on Anticosti, ii. 74
Currents at the entrance of the Gulf of

St. Lawrence, ii. 58

— main cm-rent of the St. Lawrence,
ii. 59

— passage by which the Arctic current
finds its way in the Gulf of St. Law-
rence, ii. 60

DABLON, Pore Claude, helps to
found the Sangenay mission, ii. 25
Dance, an Indian war, in the 17th

century, ii. 9
Darling, Dr., his report on the causes

of disease among the Indians, i. 191
Datura stramonium used by the Indians

as a medicine, i. 191, note
Davies, Mr. W. H. A., his knowledge

of the existence of the river Ash-

wanipi, i. 12

— his description of it quoted, i. 13

— his description of a great fire acci-
dentally caused by him, i. 206

Delaware Indians, their tradition re-
specting the wars of their ancestors,
ii. 7

Despair, Cape, ii. 81

Dinner, a, given to Indians, i. 341

Distance, an Indian's mode of indica-
ting, i. 148

Dividing Ridge, cache made at, i. 139

Dog, the, buried with his master,
amongst the Indians, i. 171

Dog Island, abundance of the cod fish
at, i. 300

Dogs, Labrador, ii. 155

— their summer and winter life, ii. 155

— their destruction of almost every
domesticated animal, ii. 156

— their sagacity, ii. 158

— use of dogs to Indians in hunting
the bear, i. 184

— comparative endurance of the Esqui-
maux and mixed breed of dogs, ii. 158

INDEX.

277

DOG

Dog- sledge, ov commetique, of Labra-
dor, ii. 157, 158

Dolbeau, Pure, the first missionary to
Tadousac, ii. 25

Domaine du Roi, or territory of the
King's Posts Company, limits of the,
i. U

— survey of the, ii. 36
Domenique, cliief of the Montagnais of

the Moisie river and Ashwanipi Lake,
i. 78

— his worldly wealth, i. 79

— conversation with him, i. SO

— his account of the first gorge of the
river Moisie, i. 81

— of the upper country