( 584
LABRADOR.
WHEN I look back upon the many pleasant hours that I spent with
the young gentlemen who composed my party, during our excursions
along the coast of sterile and stormy Labrador, I think that a brief account
of our employments may prove not altogether uninteresting to my
readers.
We had purchased our stores at Boston, with the aid of my generous
friend Dr PARKMAN of that city ; but unfortunately many things necessary
on an expedition like ours were omitted. At Eastport in Maine we
therefore laid in these requisites. No traveller, let me say, ought to neglect
any thing that is calculated to ensure the success of his undertaking,
or to contribute to his personal comfort, when about to set out on a long
and perhaps hazardous voyage. Very few opportunities of replenishing
stores of provision, clothing or ammunition, occur in such a country as
Labrador; and yet, we all placed too much confidence in the zeal and
foresight of our purveyors at Eastport. We had abundance of ammunition,
excellent bread, meat, and potatoes; but the butter was quite
rancid, the oil only fit to grease our guns, the vinegar too liberally diluted
with cider, the mustard and pepper deficient in due pungency. All this,
however, was not discovered until it was too late to be remedied. Several
of the young men were not clothed as hunters should be, and some of the
guns were not so good as we could have wished. We were, however, fortunate
with respect to our vessel, which was a notable sailer, did not leak,
had a good crew, and was directed by a capital seaman.
The hold of the schooner was floored, and an entrance made to it
from the cabin, so that in it we had a very good parlour, dining-room,
drawing-room, library, &c. all those apartments however, being, united into
one. An extravagantly elongated deal table ranged along the centre;
one of the party had slung his hammock at one end, and in its vicinity
slept the cook and a lad who acted as armourer. The cabin was small;
but being fitted in the usual manner with side berths, was used for a dormitory.
It contained a small table and a stove, the latter of diminutive
size, but smoky enough to discomfit a host. We had adopted in
a great measure the clothing worn by the American fishermen on that
coast, namely, thick blue cloth trowsers, a comfortable waistcoat, and a
LABRADOR. 585
pea-jacket of blanket. Our boots were large, round-toed, strong, and
well studded with large nails to prevent sliding on the rocks. Worsted
comforters, thick mittens, and round broad-brimmed hats, completed our
dress, which was more picturesque than fashionable. As soon as we had
an opportunity, the boots were exchanged for Esquimaux mounted mocassins
of seal-skin, impermeable to water, light, easy, and fastening at top
about the middle of the thigh to straps, which when buckled over the hips
secured them well. To complete our equipment, we had several good
boats, one of which was extremely light and adapted for shallow water.
No sooner had we reached the coast and got into harbour, than we
agreed to follow certain regulations intended for the general benefit.
Every morning the cook was called before three o'clock. At half-past
three, breakfast was on the table, and every body equipt. The guns,
ammunition, botanical boxes, and baskets for eggs or minerals, were all
in readiness. Our breakfast consisted of coffee, bread, and various other
materials. At four, all except the cook and one seaman, went off in different
directions, not forgetting to carry with them a store of cooked provisions.
Some betook themselves to the islands, others to the deep bays ;
the latter on landing wandered over the country, until noon, when laying
themselves down on the rich moss, or sitting on the granite rock, they
would rest for an hour, eat their dinner, and talk of their successes or
disappointments. I often regret that I did not take sketches of the curious
groups formed by my young friends on such occasions, and when, after
returning at night, all were engaged in measuring, weighing, comparing
and dissecting the birds we had procured, operations which were carried
on with the aid of a number of candles thrust into the necks of bottles.
Here one examined the flowers and leaves of a plant, there another
explored the recesses of a diver's gullet, while a third skinned a gull or a
grous. Nor was our journal forgotten. Arrangements were made for
the morrow, and at twelve we left matters to the mangement of the cook,
and retired to our roosts.
If the wind blew hard, all went on shore, and, excepting on a few remarkably
rainy days, we continued our pursuits much in the same manner
during our stay in the country. The physical powers of the young
men were considered in making our arrangements. SHATTUCK and INGALS
went together ; the Captain and COOL-EDGE were fond of each other,
the latter having also been an officer ; LINCOLN and my son being the
strongest and most determined hunters, generally marched by themselves;