As Labrador adjoins the provinces of Quebec and Ungava, it is often erroneously thought that the whole of it is under the jurisdiction of the great Dominion of Canada, and the majority of boys will be surprised to hear that the coast of this little-known country is a dependency of Newfoundland. It is associated with the life of the Eskimos, a people who dwell in “thrilling regions of thick-ribb’d ice,” and is considered by the outside world as “A land forsaken and dead, Where the ghostly icebergs go.” There is a great deal of tradition interwoven with the discovery of Labrador. Some historians contend that as early as A.D. 1000 Europeans had found their way to this bleak shore, and some are of the opinion that the Icelanders and Greenlanders had set foot on the barren rocks at a much earlier date. The true discoverer of Labrador, say other historians, was John Cabot, of whose voyages we have given an account in an earlier chapter. UNLOADING THE HIDE AND FAT OF SEALS AT ST. JOHN’S. The present inhabitants obtain a livelihood by The life of the Eskimo boy is a very hard one, but in their own way the children enjoy themselves, and their days are not without pleasure and sunshine. The baby boys are carried in a bag on the backs of their mothers until they are able to eat a slice of walrus, and then they are put into a pair of trousers, which the mother makes from seal-skins. Their homes are made of wood and mud, or snow if the winter is unusually cold. They consist of one room, through the top of which is a hole to carry away the smoke from the open fire. Before the Eskimo boys are very old, they are taught to repair tents, use an oar, cast a line, and handle a gun. In addition, they are taught how to drive a team of dogs across snow and ice, for dog-sleds in that far-off country take the place of trains, trams, and hansom-cabs. These dogs, however, are In the month of May, when the sealing season is practically over, the salmon-nets are prepared, and away go the families with their belongings to the salmon areas along the well-known rivers. Salmon are so abundant that hundreds are caught in one week. Great skill is sometimes shown by the Eskimo boys in the manipulation of their nets, for unless they were watched and handled cautiously they would be torn to pieces or carried away entirely by the masses of ice that go rumbling down the rivers at the approach of warmer weather. The man who is destined to bring about the salvation of these people, spiritually, intellectually, and commercially, is Dr. W.T. Grenfell. To record all that this great man has accomplished, with his experiences on land and sea, would be to fill a book many times larger than the one in which these few references to him and his work are now recorded. Dr. Grenfell is descended from an old Devonshire stock. He was born on the banks of the Dee, close to the Irish Sea, and he cannot remember the time when he did not love the roar of the ocean, and longed for romantic adventure in the far-off land towards which the billows rolled. His youth was spent at Oxford, where he became a popular figure in athletic circles. A surprising incident decided his future for him. One evening during his medical course he went by chance into the Tabernacle in East London, just at the time when Mr. Moody Dr. Grenfell has made a study of the Eskimo dog, the animal that has played such a part in the doctor’s missionary work. One of his experiences runs thus: “Modesty is a virtue of which the Eskimo dog is seldom guilty. I was visiting one day a bedridden patient. As the outer door opened, a fragrant scent as of a dinner preparing was wafted outward. Suddenly an avalanche swept me off my legs, and a pack of dogs, whisking the stew-pot off the fire, began to fight savagely over its contents, the more so as each having burnt his nose in the boiling liquid attributed his affliction to his neighbour. Meanwhile, the house filling with steam and Eskimo imprecations, the latter rendered forcible by long harpoon handles, made me almost sorry I had called. “The ‘trail’ is usually over the frozen sea, the “Ploughing is a humdrum task which these dogs do not enjoy. The only way it can be done is for one man to march solemnly in front dragging a seal’s flipper, while another man has to shove and guide the plough. “When a flock passes, all the guns are discharged simultaneously, and the ducks, which at times respond in showers, are nominally divided equally. “But now comes the excitement. As a rule a huge Atlantic surf, with these north-east winds, breaks over the point, and the splendid pluck and endurance of the dogs is taxed to the uttermost. Dashing into the waves, I have seen them repeatedly hurled back, bruised and winded, high on to the ledges of rock, only to be dragged off by the return wave and once more pounded on to the rocks. To avoid this, the brave beasts hold on with the energy of despair, and many times have I noted their bleeding paws, and nails torn off in the unequal struggle. Yet they would at once return to the charge, and, waiting their chance, leap right over the breaking crest, and so get clear of the surf. Once they seize a duck they never let it go, and I have often felt sorely tempted even to jump in and give the brave creatures a hand when it seemed impossible for them to keep up the struggle any longer. Yet, after being lost to view, engulfed by a huge breaker, one would soon see a duck appear, and after it a dog’s head, still true to its hazardous duty. Sometimes, however, they are really lost.” The Eskimo is not without some vague idea of a The Eskimo also believes that the affairs of his earthly life are ordered by an attendant spirit, who has power to destroy the labours of his hands or crown them with success. This spirit is understood to be extremely malignant, and only by sacrificial offerings is it possible to propitiate him. Very frequently an idol of this malignant spirit is carried by the Eskimo in his ammunition-bag if he wishes his hunting expedition to be successful. There is something very poetic, if crude, about These beautiful lights, say the Eskimos, are torches held in the hands of spirits who come to seek the souls of those who have recently passed away. By the aid of these torches the souls are led across the dark abyss at the edge of the world to a celestial region where sorrow and death never come, and where they no longer feel the pangs of hunger, for food and water are abundant there. BILLING AND SONS, LIMITED, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD |