Labrador; a sketch of its peoples, its industries and its natural history

Preface

In presenting to the public the following journal sketches of the country of which they treat, the thought that I am writing of a region so new and so little known, though so near to us, together with the pleasure which I have experienced both in my travels and in the preparation of this account of them, will furnish a sufficient excuse for the undertaking. Although so little has been known or written about Labrador, yet it is a region not a thousand miles away from us, and one which bears a most important relation to the fishing interests of this continent.

The knowledge of this region, which is within reach of the public, is to be found only in the pages of an old-fashioned document, of two volumes, now out of print, and almost unknown save to large libraries, entitled "Cartwright's Journal ;" in Hind's "Labrador Peninsula," 2 vols., and in occasional articles in some magazine or newspaper. If I have added some new and interesting matter to our present knowledge of this subject, my labors will not have been in vain.

My first trip to Labrador was during the summer of 1875, when I collected largely in all the branches of Natural History, and especially in Botany, finding, with the assistance of the Rev. Mr. Butler, the then missionary to this region, many new and rare plants. This number has since been enlarged and a catalogue of them, as of collections in several other branches of Natural History, published in the sixth volume of the Report of the National Museum, at Washington. In September, 1S80, I again visited the

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iV PREFACE.

coast and remained studying the region and collecting until September, 1 88 1. During this time I had abundant opportunity for investigation. In the summer of 1882 I made my third trip, starting from Boston with a company of about a dozen fellowvoyagers, and proceeded nearly to Harrison Inlet.

I would tender most cordial thanks to several of the officers in charge of various posts of the Hudson's Bay Company where I visited, who gave me much help in my investigations : as also the courteous Magistrate at Bonne Esperance, Mr. Wm. H. Whiteley, with whom I spent a great part of my time while on the coast.

Hoping that there may be found enough of value and interest to counterbalance the many too obvious defects, I submit these pages to those who may be interested in such researches.

Respectfully,

WiNFRiD A. Stearns, Amherst, July 14, 1884.

Contents

PAGE

Introduction - .--- 1-7

Chapter I. Physical Geography Of Region

Survey of Labrador — Elementary physics — Physical geography 9-26

CHAPTER 11.

STARTING ON THE JOURNEY.

Trip to Labrador — Arrival at Montreal — Arrival at Quebec and

description of the city 27-38

Chapter III. Quebec To Green Island

Our stay in Quebec — Starting for Berthier — Berthier — Off for Labrador — Bunking in — Island of Orleans — Islands and channels — Sunday — Other islands — The Saguenay — Fog again 39-5 1

Chapter IV. Green Island To Bonne Esperance

The weather — Beluga, borealis and other huge animals — A sundog — Birds — The rusty blackbird — Bradore hills — Varieties of rocks — Coast line about St. Augustine — Reaching Bonne Esperance — Old Fort island — Eider ducks — Other birds — Garden vegetables — Hay — Raised beaches — Labrador dogs — Searching for driftwood . . - . 52-66

Chapter V. Bo^tne Esperance

Bonne Esperance — Esquimaux river and island — Caribou island — Entering Bonne Esperance Harbor — Vessels in the harbor — Their nationality — Activity of place — Religious character of people — Chapel and Mission house — Residence of Mr. Whiteley, magistrate — Nescopiae — Store and shop provisions — Money — Trade — A trading story - - . - - 67-75

CONTENTS.

Chapter VI. Natural History : Topography Of Country

Raspberries — Weather — Hudsonian chickadee and other birds — Black fly — Topography of country — Old Fort bay, physical features and surroundings — Superstitions concerning the raven 76-96

CHAPTER Vn.

OLD FORT : INVESTIGATIONS.

Indian tents — New fields for research — Visit to the Indians — Seals' flesh — Dogskin boots — Cattle food in hard winters — Coptis trifolia — Spruce partridge — Inland — Hypothesis of Aurora — Little auk — Signs of a wreck — Ascent of western arm of the bay — Wreck of the Edward Cardwell — Picking up lumber — First snowstorm of the winter .... 97-118

CHAPTER Vni.

A LABRADOR HOME.

A Labrador home — Houses — Where erected — Stage — Shop — Stable — The house — Papering — Family — Occupation of its members — Out-of-door life ...... 119-131

CHAPTER IX.

A GALE : KOMATIK, RACKETS, ETC.

Dinner off fresh meat — Credit and shiftlessness — A Labrador snowstorm — Wind — Preparing for storm — Storming hard — Firewood — Storm increases — Sleepless night — Another day of it — A grand sight — Violence of wind and wave — Destruction of stage — Calmer weather — Beautiful ice scene — End of storm — Thanksgiving day — Komatiks and rackets - - 132-15 1

CHAPTER X.

WINTER SCENES AND OCCUPATION OF PEOPLE.

Trip up the river to the mission — Ice pictures — Bad walking — To the old Fort — New scenes and bad walking — Pleasant Sunday — The return — Journal — A komatik ride — Christmas gathering — Wood cutting — Work for the evenings — Making sealskin boots, mittens, and other needful and fancy work - 152-17 1

*C

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XI.

WINTER SCENES AND AMUSEMENTS.

New Year's day — How to walk on rackets — " Fish, dogs, and seal," the general topics of conversation — Obtaining skeletons

— Larch poultices — "Small talk" — Low temperature — Deer stories — Trapping — Indians — Up the river — At the mission

— Harnessing the puppies — A racket walk - - - 172-190

CHAPTER XII.

OLD FORT TO l'aNSE AMOUR. 80° in winter — Trip eastward — Starting — Esquimaux river and island — Salmon bay — Bradore bay — Caribou island — Five leagues — Middle bay — Belles Amour — Over Bradore hills — L'Anse Dunes — Blanc Sablon — L'Anse Coteau — L'Anse Clair — Forteau — Amour 191-213

CHAPTER XIII.

a tramping expedition.

Canadian porcupine — Picking fall berries in spring — Carrying wood to summer quarters — Anticipating Fourth of July — Summer quarters in winter — Capsized — Fox hunt on rackets — A mile of soft snow without rackets 214-220

CHAPTER XIV.

moving out.

Preparing the summer house to live in — Moving out — A spring rescue — Seals on ice — Larks — A home scene — Spring duck shooting — Repairing the boats — Visit to the Indians — Indian canoes — Netting nets — Labrador mail — Natural scenery of Labrador — Repairing canoes — Visit to Esquimaux graves — Ornithological notes 221-238

CHAPTER XV.

FROM BLANC SABLON TO MINGAN.

Blanc Sablon again — Northern Hmits of the bittern — Return along the coast of Natashquan — Spring scene in Red bay — Other places — St. Mary islands — Cormorants — At Natashquan — Rambles about the place — Appearance of the birds — The dark day — Arrival at Mingan 239-253

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVI.

MINGAN TO OLD FORT ISLAND AGAIN.

Mingan and surroundings — Hudson's Bay Companies' buildings — Mingan river — Indians of this region, their habits, rehgion, etc. — Montagnais and Nascopies — The Indian trade at the various places along the north shore — Romaine or Olomanosheebo — Natashquan again — French steamer and salmon freezing — Jewelry peddler — Agwanus, Nabasippi — Terns and gulls — Cod fish " schooling " — Esquimaux Point — Indian names, etc. : St. Genevieve island, Watcheeshoo, Manicouagan, Saddle Hill, Mt. St. John, Washatnagunashka bay, Mushkoniatawee, Pashasheeboo, Peashtebai — Shooting at the Fox islands — Mutton bay, Great Mecattina islands — Old Fort island again at last 254-272

CHAPTER XVH.

HOMEWARD BOUND.

Affairs at Old Fort Island — The fishing season — Thunder storm

— Arrival of vessel which is to take us home — Our trip in her to L'Anse Loup — Scenes at intervening places — Off for home

— Double reefed fore and main sails — Island of Anticosti

— A hurricane — Quebec and home ..... 273-279

CHAPTER XVni.

THIRD TRIP TO LABRADOR.

Third voyage : summer of '82 — Puffin-shooting — Dredging — Bad weather — Main boom breaks — Chateau and Temple bays — Places of interest — Mines and minerals — Aurora and phosphorescence — Icebergs — Fox harbor — Battle island — Indians and Esquimaux — Indian vocabulary — Square island — Dead island — A wateir garden — Triangle harbor — Homeward bound — Notes on Dutch and Esquimaux settlements. - 280-295

Introduction

LABRADOR : ITS DISCOVERY AND ITS LOCATION.

The coast of Labrador is well known to you all, as it figures on your maps and on your charts. There are probably very few who do not recollect this little oblong plateau as it appears thus jutting eastward into the Straits of Belle Isle from an almost desolate, and on your maps plainly colored, portion of inhabitable northern North America. If there should be those to whom this location is as yet unfamiliar, let them refer to their geography, and then, following the river St. La%vrence as it flows to the Gulf, and the Gulf as it flows through the Straits of Belle Isle, they will readily find, just before entering the narrowest part of the Straits, the coast of Newfoundland on the right and that of Labrador on the left of this portion of the Gulf.

A section, and that the most easterly, of the Canadian Province of Quebec, is usually included with Labrador proper in the term, generally applied, of " Labrador." As a part of this Province it has its mails, though irregular at best ; while its seat of government is in Quebec.

Of Labrador a certain writer has said, perhaps as truly as the times (by which 1 mean the explorations of science and survey) will permit, that "it is an immense peninsula extending over an area of four hundred and fifty thousand superficial miles, and bounded by the Atlantic, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and Hudson's Bay."

Of this part of the coast there is a considerable division of opinion, as in fact of other neighboring parts, as to the people who first discovered it, as well as of the origin of the name.

1 (1)

INTRODUCTION.

It is not the place here to enter into a discussion of this question nor yet to call up all the points in the arguments in favor of or against any particular hypothesis. The fact that as yet we know little enough of these interesting points of inquiry, which, while they answer for individual effort and research, will hardly be necessary in such a place as this, will therefore limit us to what we do know.

We do know of the contention among both French and English as to the discovery of Labrador by Sebastian Cabot in 1496, and its exploration soon after by the Portuguese Corterell, who is said to have named it. We do know that Mr. Samuel Robertson, who has given this matter his most careful attention and who has perhaps searched more thoroughly than any other man in the country for the real facts bearing upon this subject, in his excellent article read before the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, dated January 16, 1841, gives us the summing up of what are the results of his labors. From them we learn that "the universal tradition of the coast," and which his inquiries seem to verify and establish, is "that one Labrador, a Basque whaler, from the kingdom of Navarre in Spain, did penetrate through the Straits of Belle Isle, as far as Labrador Bay, sometime about the middle of the fifteenth century ; and, eventually, the whole coast took the name from that bay and harbor."

There is very little doubt, as far as circumstantial evidence goes, that the coast here, as in the neighboring places, was visited by the Norsemen in the tenth century ; but they left no signs of colonization by which we can prove it.

There were some remains of buildings, also instruments discovered, that were supposed to be of later and Esquimaux origin, but these, Mr. Robertson thinks, can be proven of Basque origin. In all probability, therefore, Labrador was discovered by Basque fishermen and whalers before the discovery of Cabot, and before Christopher Columbus discovered America. We know that the French carried on fisheries along the coast of Newfoundland earlier even than the year 1500. In 1532 Jacques Cartier, wi^/i Bretons for pilots, visited this coast, and as early as 1506 a chart of the Gulf

INTRODUCTION. 8 had been published. Besides all this the Welsh and Irish, as also the Icelanders, put in the claims of being early visitors. Thus the difficulties of origin increase rather than diminish.

The first established colony in Labrador was at "Brest," now Bradore. It was founded about 1508, was a trading post, contained the residence of the Governor and other officers, and, it is said, contained "200 houses and 1000 inhabitants in winter, which latter were trebled in the summer." Thus you will see that very early this was an important trading post, though it gradually lost its importance, and soon dwindled to a few houses whose inhabitants were settlers, who took what they could find as they found it, and were without law and government, as one might truly say.

You will understand that this settlement at Bradore was not a permanent one, that is, dependent upon other settlements on the coast ; but was one, so to speak, complete in itself for the purpose of carrying on fisheries at that place, while the greater portion of the coast had neither been much settled nor much explored ; consequently, at the time called the Conquest, when the Esquimaux were nearly exterminated from these districts, and when the owning foreign monarch began to cut up this almost thriving colony into special grants to his favorites, its prosperity began to decline . Though at first the fish, whale, and fowl were everywhere abundant, a slow but perceptible decrease of these productions tended also to dishearten the colony ; and a natural unfavorableness of the coast, being then, as it now is, a mass of granite rock, as also the severity of the climate, combined with a dread of extermination, to scatter them completely. You will now also understand why, if Labrador was once in a way to become a popular fishing station, it broke up rather than increased in its settlements and thus possible future growth. Having thus broken up, you will see why it has remained waiting for the energy and determination of Americans to combine with the sturdy hold on of the English, who have now gained possession of the coast and added it to their aheady important Canadian and Newfoundland Colonies, to open it again to

INTRODUCTION.

the world as a fishing post, when centuries shall have restocked its waters.

As Labrador looks upon the charts, one would easily imagine that it was a vast expanse of lowland, and one almost plain peninsula extending into the sea as a continuation and part of the British Provinces, and auxiliary, perhaps, to the territory of the Hudson's Bay Company. In point of fact this latter case is partly true and partly false. It is indeed a part of the British possessions, and it is also a part of the Hudson's Bay Company's territory ; at least there are several trading posts of that Company placed occasionally along its shores, and the Company own considerable land located about and around each such post ; yet it forms but a small part of that Company's productive ground, which is much farther north, and extends a considerable way into the interior of the country, thus approaching the great bay which bears the name of that hardy, early pioneer and explorer who discovered it, as also the river of that same name which here takes its rise. At one time Labrador was a small part of these the best fur regions of the world. Then many trading posts were established, of which the most important, perhaps, at least of that portion of the coast of which I shall speak more at length presently, was at St. Augustine, near the St. Augustine river, and only a few miles — so to speak — from the principal settlements in this section about Esquimaux river, and Bonne Esperance the seat of local government. It was only at a late day that this post was abandoned as a trading station, and, unless recently resupplied it is no more a permanent authorized station of the Company. Though the post here has been formed but a few years, new ones are being so constantly made — or rather abandoned ones resupplied — and old ones broken up, that it is impossible to keep an exact and satisfactory account of them all.

The portions of Labrador which I visited are contained within the easternmost extremity of the Province of Quebec, and the westernmost part of Labrador proper, comprising an included distance of about five hundred miles, in which extent of coastline I have visited nearly every harbor of importance. In describing

INTRODUCTION.

two or three of these locations a sort of idea may be obtained of what is to be seen elsewhere along the coast, as the simple inhabitants differ little in customs and manners.

The line which divides these two portions of territory is established in a direct northern route from the settlement of Blanc Sablon, which is only about twenty miles from Bonne Esperance, the residence of Mr. William H. Whiteley, the magistrate for this part of the coast.

Of course the trading post of St. Augustine was not the only one on the coast. It was simply the only one which the people within a radius of fifty miles recognized as available for uses of immediate trade, while yet a Ucensed station. From St. Augustine almost to the head of the St. Lawrence River, many places such as Tadousac, Port Neuf, Goodbout, Seven Islands, and Mingan ; Natashquan, Musquarro, Romaine, and perhaps others, were regular posts of the Hudson's Bay Company, and, together, formed a chain of the most important localities along the coast, all of which belonged to the Eastern division of what is known as the Montreal Department, which, with the Northern, the Southern, and the Columbian Departments, form the four portions into which that great Company is divided. As the southwesternraost of these posts is not far from Quebec, a sort of central station for most of the trading of this region, one can see quite easily that the settlers along the coast are not so far from communication with civilization, especially in summer, as one would at first imagine ; though in the long winter months when the bays and harbors are frozen over so that no vessels can approach, and no boats can sail from post to post, to the stranger at such a time on these ice-bound shores the prospect seems dreary enough. In the winter, travelling is mostly on foot, shod with the racket as it is called, a sort of padded or rather wicker snowpad ; or on komatiks or sledges drawn by dogs which can go X)vex the high hills, lining the very coast, with safety and often with great speed. Yet Labrador in as low a latitude as it is, compared to what is beyond, and as near civilization as it is compared to what is beyond, though pleasant for a short time in summer, is suffi-

INTRODUCTION.

ciently dreary in winter. No wonder that at such a time a stranger feels that he has reached the hmits of civiUzed warmth, so to speak, arising from his own country, home ; while he is surrounded by the icy arms of the far north stretching continually downwards and outwards !

We have seen now that Labrador was discovered — no matter by whom — at a time very nearly contemporary with the discovery of Columbus, if we exclude the probable claims of the Norsemen ; that it was once an important fishing station whose development was in every way hindered rather than helped ; that its relation to the Hudson's Bay Company's trading territory was a very near though not absolutely necessary one, as far as that company was concerned — since the agents of that Company always ran more or less opposition to the Quebec and Halifax traders ; that its relation to the Province of Quebec was that of a perfectly natural northeastern dependency or addition ; and that Blanc Sablon, situated as it is at the entrance of the Straits of Belle Isle, was so evident and natural a division between this and the Newfoundland dependency of Labrador proper, that it ought not to be difficult to understand where the one ended and the other began.

In Anspach's "History of the Island of Newfoundland," 1827, p. 323, the reason for annexing Labrador to Newfoundland is given as follows : —

" The coast of Labrador, although discovered by Cabot, was very little known until the latter part of the last century, when the progressive increase of the Newfoundland fisheries induced the British Government to extend them to this coast, by annexing it to the government of that island, in the year 1 763. The native inhabitants of those parts were included in the regulations which were, at the same time, forwarded to the Governor of the colonies, to prevent the different tribes of Indians from being in anywise molested or disturbed in the possession of such territories as, not having been ceded to or purchased by the Crown of England, were reserved to them as their hunting grounds. All settlements, formed either wilfully or inadvertently upon such lands, were to

INTRODUCTION.

be immediately given up ; nor were any such lands for the future to be purchased from the said Indians, but in the name of His Brittannic Majesty, at some public meeting or assembly, of said Indians, to be held for that purpose by the Governor or Commander-in-chief of such colony within or near which they should lie. The trade with the said Indians was declared free and open to all British subjects who should take out proper licenses for that purpose.

This union of the coast of Labrador with Newfoundland, by placing the former under a jurisdiction which could, from local circumstances, more effectually than any other, provide for the maintenance of order and the due administration of justice in those parts, tended materially to increase its importance as a fishery without any injury to the fur trade, both being perfectly compatible. When this arrangement was altered in 1774, and the jurisdiction of the Governor of Newfoundland was reduced to its former limits, a superintendent of trade, appointed by the Governor-General of the Four British Provinces, and responsible to him, used to reside at Labrador. This measure, which appeared to have had for its principal object to encourage the fur trade, must have proved very prejudicial to the fishery, and the source of much disorder and irregularity. The re-annexation of the coast of Labrador and adjacent islands to the government of Newfoundland, in the year 1809, was consequently a measure extremely favorable to the interests of the trade and fisheries."

With a proper understanding, then, of the region visited, I will proceed with the narrative of the expedition, trusting that a greater part of it may be of general interest to the reader.

SURVEY OF LABRADOR.

Chapter I

Survey of Labrador — Elementary Physics — Physical Geography.

The most complete, in fact the only real, survey of Labrador ever made, was in 1832 and 1834, by Capt. H. W. Bayfield, R. N., F. A. S. He was assisted by other parties, though perhaps none of them -were so thorough as was that of Capt. Bayfield — at least he is quoted as authority to this day — and I found that our vessel, by following the directions of his admirable chart, entered and left many an opening of but sufficient size to admit the passage of our vessel, with perfect safety ; showing that the soundings were for the most part taken correctly, and that comparative quiet had remained in regard to subsidence of waters or elevation of land during the lapse of a period of nearly forty years. Though the change of level of the water itself, or the variation in depth, would have been but slight in so short a time, yet the fact that so many of the soundings remained unchanged gave us additional proof against the rising or sinking of the land at that place. Comparing Capt. Bayfield's chart, therefore, with our own soundings, we obtained very favorable and often important results. Previous to a short account of some of the physical phenomena of this region, let us rehearse a few of the elementary principles of physical geography necessary for their clear understanding.

For the purposes of science and convenience, the earth is traversed by imaginary lines running in all directions about and around it. The equator is a great circle passing around the earth from

10 ELEMENTARY PHYSICS.

east to west and is equidistant from each of the poles. The meridians are great circles passing around the globe from north to south, crossing the equator at right angles and meeting at the poles. The parallels (of latitude) are smaller circles parallel to the equator. The tropics, marking the highest latitude receiving the vertical rays of the sun, are situated twenty-three and one-half degrees both north and south of the equator. The polar circles are situated (to correspond with the tropics) twenty-three and one-half degrees, the one north of the south pole, and the other south of the north pole, and are the limits of light when the sun is vertical at the tropics. The ecliptic marks the apparent path of the sun from tropic to tropic, and as it continues around the earth requiring three hundred and sixty-five days for the sun to pass to its end it divides the seasons and days, hence the weeks and months of the year. Latitude is the distance from the equator to the pole, measured in either direction : thus there are ninety degrees of north latitude and a corresponding number of degrees of south latitude ; the length of a degree of latitude is sixty-nine and one-half miles. Longitude is the distance east or west from any given meridian measured on the equator ; the length of a degree of longitude is also sixty- nine and one-half miles. The relative difference in longitude between two places marks, also, the difference in time between those places ; for since there are 360° degrees around the earth traversed in twenty-four hours, one hour of time must correspond to fifteen degrees, or four minutes to one degree. When, therefore, a place is so many degrees from any given locality, it is easy to see what will be the difference in time between these places ; if east the time is slower, if west faster than the given time at the given place.

Applying other simple laws we find that the nautical mile is equal to one and one-sixth English miles : or there are sixty of them to a degree of latitude ; it is therefore natural to compute distances in nautical miles by applying the latitude as a measure of distance.

Though these remarks may not now seem in place, their suggestion will become evident at once in measuring distances without the

WAVES. 11

use of a regular scale of miles, the degrees and minutes of latitude answering every purpose.

Waves have been defined as the " alternate rise and fall of successive ridges of water." They are formed by the action of the wind, or the disturbance of the balance of equilibrium in the surface of the water itself. Waves vary in their rapidity of progress, their extent, and their height and breadth, according to the area of water in which they occur, its depth, and the force and direction of the wind ; being smallest in small bodies and largest in large bodies of water. The wave movement primarily is that of simple oscillation, or of repeated risings and fallings without apparent forward or backward motion of any kind ; thus a chip thrown upon a surface of water affected by such motion retains its position while rising and falling as the water of that area rises and falls. Such is the case if the surface of the water is at apparent rest and there be no wind. Let the wind arise, or the sea be affected by currents, or both, and there arises a complexity of wave phenomena at once interesting as it is difficult to study with any degree of satisfaction. The other kind of wave motion is called the wave of translation. It is a long, solitary line of crests, such as would be formed by the pushing forward of a mass of water over and above the level of the surrounding water ; it progresses slow or fast according as the depth about is great or small. The typical wave of translation is the tide wave. The phenomena of the rise and fall of the tide are too well known to have escaped the attention of the ordinary individual. They are produced by the action of the sun and moon, primarily of the moon alone, upon the surface of the earth. They occur with regularity in all great bodies of water, and consist of the rising and falling of that body of water effected as a whole, at periods of nearly six hours apart, with a few moments of calm at the end of each period. The period of rising water is called flood tide, and the highest elevation of flood tide high water ; while the period of falling water is called ebb tide, and the lowest ebb tide low water. The period of time between the highest or lowest tide to the next tide of the same kind, or between one high tide and the next high,