in three boats immediately after our early breakfast, and went to the
main land, distant some five miles. The fog was thick enough, but the
wind promised fair weather, and we have had it. As soon as we landed
the captain and I went off over a large extent of marsh ground, the
first we have yet met with in this country; the earth was wet, our
feet sank far in the soil, and walking was extremely irksome. In
crossing what is here called a wood, we found a nest of _Parus
hudsonicus_[215] containing four young, able to fly; we procured the
parents also, and I shall have the pleasure of drawing them to-morrow;
this bird has never been figured that I know. Their _manners_ resemble
those of the Black-headed Titmouse, or Chickadee, and their notes are
fully as strong, and clamorous, and constant as those of either of our
own species. Few birds do I know that possess more active powers. The
nest was dug by the bird out of a dead and rotten stump, about five
feet from the ground; the aperture, one and a quarter inches in
diameter, was as round as if made by a small Woodpecker, or a
Flying-squirrel. The hole inside was four by six inches; at the bottom
a bed of chips was found, but the nest itself resembled a purse formed
of the most beautiful and softest hair imaginable,--of Sables,
Ermines, Martens, Hares, etc.; a warmer and snugger apartment no bird
could desire, even in this cold country. On leaving the wood we shot a
Spruce Partridge leading her young. On seeing us she ruffled her
feathers like a barnyard hen, and rounded within a few feet of us to
defend her brood; her very looks claimed our forbearance and clemency,
but the enthusiastic desire to study nature prompted me to destroy
her, and she was shot, and her brood secured in a few moments; the
young very pretty and able to fly. This bird was so very gray that she
might almost have been pronounced a different species from those at
Dennysville, Me., last autumn; but this difference is occasioned by
its being born so much farther north; the difference is no greater
than in _Tetrao umbellus_[216] in Maine, and the same bird in western
Pennsylvania. We crossed a savannah of many miles in extent; in many
places the soil appeared to wave under us, and we expected at each
step to go through the superficial moss carpet up to our middles in
the mire; so wet and so spongy was it that I think I never labored
harder in a walk of the same extent. In travelling through this
quagmire we met with a small grove of good-sized, fine white-birch
trees, and a few pines full forty feet high, quite a novelty to us at
this juncture. On returning to our boats the trudging through the
great bog was so fatiguing that we frequently lay down to rest; our
sinews became cramped, and for my part, more than once I thought I
should give up from weariness. One man killed a _Falco columbarius_,
in the finest plumage I have ever seen. I heard the delightful song
of the Ruby-crowned Wren again and again; what would I give to find
the nest of this _northern Humming-Bird_? We found the Fox-colored
Sparrow in full song, and had our captain been up to birds' ways, he
would have found its nest; for one started from his feet, and
doubtless from the eggs, as she fluttered off with drooping wings, and
led him away from the spot, which could not again be found. John and
Co. found an island with upwards of two hundred nests of the _Larus
canus_,[217] all with eggs, but not a young one hatched. The nests
were placed on the bare rock; formed of sea-weed, about six inches in
diameter within, and a foot without; some were much thicker and larger
than others; in many instances only a foot apart, in others a greater
distance was found. The eggs are much smaller than those of _Larus
marinus_. The eggs of the Cayenne Tern,[218] were also found, and a
single pair of those remarkable birds, which could not be approached.
Two Ptarmigans were killed; these birds have no whirring of the wings,
even when surprised; they flew at the gunners in defence of the young,
and one was killed with a gun-rod. The instant they perceive they are
observed, when at a distance, they squat or lie flat on the moss, when
it is almost impossible to see them unless right under your feet. From
the top of a high rock I had fine view of the most extensive and the
dreariest wilderness I have ever beheld. It chilled the heart to gaze
on these barren lands of Labrador. Indeed I now dread every change of
harbor, so horribly rugged and dangerous is the whole coast and
country, especially to the inexperienced man either of sea or land.
The mosquitoes, many species of horse-fly, small bees, and black gnats
filled the air; the frogs croaked; and yet the thermometer was not
high, not above 55 deg. This is one of the wonders of this extraordinary
country. We have returned to our vessel, wet, shivering with cold,
tired, and very hungry. During our absence the cook caught some fine
lobsters; but fourteen men, each with a gun, six of which were
double-barrelled, searched all day for game, and have not averaged two
birds apiece, nineteen being all that were shot to-day. We all
conclude that no one man could provide food for himself without
extreme difficulty. Some animal was seen at a great distance, so far
indeed that we could not tell whether it was a Wolf or a Caribou.
_July 19._ So cold, rainy, and foggy has this day been that no one
went out shooting, and only a ramble on shore was taken by way of
escaping the motion of the vessel, which pitched very disagreeably,
the wind blowing almost directly in our harbor; and I would not
recommend this anchorage to a _painter naturalist_, as Charles
Bonaparte calls me. I have drawn two _Parus hudsonicus_, and this
evening went on shore with the captain for exercise, and enough have I
had. We climbed the rocks and followed from one to another, crossing
fissures, holding to the moss hand and foot and with difficulty, for
about a mile, when suddenly we came upon the deserted mansion of a
Labrador sealer. It looked snug outside, and we entered it. It was
formed of short slabs, all very well greased with seal oil; an oven
without a pipe, a salt-box hung on a wooden peg, a three-legged stool,
and a wooden box of a bedstead, with a flour-barrel containing some
hundreds of seine-floats, and an old Seal seine, completed the list of
goods and chattels. Three small windows, with four panes of glass
each, were still in pretty good order, and so was the low door, which
moved on wooden hinges, for which the maker has received no patent,
I'll be bound. This cabin made of hewn logs, brought from the main,
was well put together, about twelve feet square, well roofed with bark
of birch and spruce, thatched with moss, and every aperture rendered
air-tight with oakum. But it was deserted and abandoned; the Seals are
all caught, and the sealers have nought to do here now-a-days. We
found a pile of good hard wood close to this abode, which we will have
removed on board our vessel to-morrow. I discovered that this cabin
had been the abode of two French Canadians; first, because their
almanac, written with chalk on one of the logs, was in French; and
next, the writing was in two very different styles. As we returned to
our vessel I paused several times to contemplate the raging waves
breaking on the stubborn, precipitous rocks beneath us, and thought
how dreadful they would prove to any one who should be wrecked on so
inhospitable a shore. No vessel, the captain assured me, could stand
the sea we gazed upon at that moment, and I fully believed him, for
the surge dashed forty feet or more high against the precipitous
rocks. The Ravens flew above us, and a few Gulls beat to windward by
dint of superior sailing; the horizon was hid by fog, so thick there,
and on the crest of the island, that it looked like dense smoke.
Though I wore thick mittens and very heavy clothing, I felt chilly
with the cold. John's violin notes carry my thoughts far, far from
Labrador, I assure thee.
_July 20._ Labrador deserves credit for _one_ fine day! To-day has
been calm, warm, and actually such a day as one might expect in the
Middle States about the month of May. I drew from half-past three till
ten this morning. The young men went off early, and the captain and
myself went to the island next to us, but saw few birds: a Brown Lark,
some Gulls, and the two White-crowned Buntings. In some small bays
which we passed we found the stones thrown up by the sea in immense
numbers, and of enormous size. These stones I now think are probably
brought on shore in the masses of ice during the winter storms. These
icebergs, then melting and breaking up, leave these enormous
pebble-shaped stones, from ten to one hundred feet deep. When I
returned to my drawing the captain went fishing, and caught
thirty-seven cod in less than an hour. The wind rose towards evening,
and the boats did not get in till nine o'clock, and much anxiety did I
feel about them. Coolidge is an excellent sailor, and John too, for
that matter, but very venturesome; and Lincoln equally so. The chase,
as usual, poor; two Canadian Grouse in moult,--these do moult earlier
than the Willow Grouse,[219]--some White-throated Sparrows,
Yellow-rump Warblers, the Green Black-cap Flycatcher, the small Wood
Pewee (?). I think this a new species, but cannot swear to it.[220]
The young of the Tawny Thrush were seen with the mother, almost
full-grown. All the party are very tired, especially Ingalls, who was
swamped up to his arm-pits and was pulled out by his two companions;
tired as they are, they have yet energy to eat tremendously.
_July 21._ I write now from a harbor which has no name, for we have
mistaken it for the right one, which lies two miles east of this; but
it matters little, for the coast of Labrador is all alike comfortless,
cold and foggy, yet grand. We left Little Macatine at five this
morning, with a stiff southwest breeze, and by ten our anchor was
dropped here. We passed Captain Bayfield and his two boats engaged in
the survey of the coast. We have been on shore; no birds but about a
hundred Eider Ducks and Red-breasted Mergansers in the inner bay, with
their broods all affrighted as our boats approached. Returning on
board, found Captain Bayfield and his lieutenants, who remained to
dine with us. They were short of provisions, and we gave them a barrel
of ship-bread, and seventy pounds of beef. I presented the captain
with a ham, with which he went off to their camp on some rocks not far
distant. This evening we paid him a visit; he and his men are encamped
in great comfort. The tea-things were yet arranged on the iron-bound
bed, the trunks served as seats, and the sail-cloth clothes-bags as
pillows. The moss was covered with a large tarred cloth, and neither
wind nor damp was admitted. I gazed on the camp with much pleasure,
and it was a great enjoyment to be with men of education and refined
manners, such as are these officers of the Royal Navy; it was indeed a
treat. We talked of the country where we were, of the beings best
fitted to live and prosper here, not only of our species, but of all
species, and also of the enormous destruction of everything here,
except the rocks; the aborigines themselves melting away before the
encroachments of the white man, who looks without pity upon the
decrease of the devoted Indian, from whom he rifles home, food,
clothing, and life. For as the Deer, the Caribou, and all other game
is killed for the dollar which its skin brings in, the Indian must
search in vain over the devastated country for that on which he is
accustomed to feed, till, worn out by sorrow, despair, and want, he
either goes far from his early haunts to others, which in time will be
similarly invaded, or he lies on the rocky seashore and dies. We are
often told rum kills the Indian; I think not; it is oftener the want
of food, the loss of hope as he loses sight of all that was once
abundant, before the white man intruded on his land and killed off the
wild quadrupeds and birds with which he has fed and clothed himself
since his creation. Nature herself seems perishing. Labrador must
shortly be depeopled, not only of aboriginal man, but of all else
having life, owing to man's cupidity. When no more fish, no more game,
no more birds exist on her hills, along her coasts, and in her rivers,
then she will be abandoned and deserted like a worn-out field.
_July 22._ At six this morning, Captain Bayfield and Lieutenant Bowen
came alongside in their respective boats to bid us farewell, being
bound westward to the "Gulnare." We embarked in three boats and
proceeded to examine a small harbor about a mile east, where we found
a whaling schooner of fifty-five tons from Cape Gaspe in New
Brunswick. When we reached it we found the men employed at boiling
blubber in what, to me, resembled sugar boilers. The blubber lay
heaped on the shore in chunks of six to twenty pounds, and looked
filthy enough. The captain, or owner, of the vessel appeared to be a
good, sensible man of that class, and cut off for me some strips of
the skin of the whale from under the throat, with large and curious
barnacles attached to it. They had struck four whales, of which three
had sunk and were lost; this, I was told, was a very rare occurrence.
We found at this place a French Canadian, a Seal-catcher, who gave me
the following information. This portion of Labrador is free to any one
to settle on, and he and another man had erected a small cabin, have
Seal-nets, and traps to catch Foxes, and guns to shoot Bears and
Wolves. They carry their quarry to Quebec, receive fifty cents per
gallon for Seal oil, and from three to five guineas for Black and
Silver-Fox skins, and other furs in proportion. From November till
spring they kill Seals in great numbers. Two thousand five hundred
were killed by seventeen men in three days; this great feat was done
with short sticks, each Seal being killed with a single blow on the
snout, while resting on the edges of the field ice. The Seals are
carried to the camp on sledges drawn by Esquimaux dogs, that are so
well trained that on reaching home they push the Seals off the sledge
with their noses, and return to the hunters with despatch. (Remember,
my Lucy, this is hearsay.) At other times the Seals are driven into
nets one after another, until the poor animals become so hampered and
confined that, the gun being used, they are easily and quickly
despatched. He showed me a spot within a few yards of his cabin where,
last winter, he caught six Silver-gray Foxes; these had gone to Quebec
with his partner, who was daily expected. Bears and Caribous abound
during winter, as well as Wolves, Hares, and Porcupines. The Hare (I
suppose the Northern one) is brown at this season, and white in
winter; the Wolves are mostly of a dun color, very ferocious and
daring. A pack of about thirty followed a man to his cabin, and have
more than once killed his dogs at his very door. I was the more
surprised at this, as the dogs he had were as large as any Wolves I
have ever seen. These dogs are extremely tractable; so much so that,
when harnessed to a sledge, the leader starts at the word of command,
and the whole pack gallops off swiftly enough to convey a man sixty
miles in the course of seven or eight hours. They howl like Wolves,
and are not at all like our common dogs. They were extremely gentle,
came to us, jumped on us, and caressed us, as if we were old
acquaintances. They do not take to the water, and are only fitted for
drawing sledges and chasing Caribou. They are the only dogs which at
all equal the Caribou in speed. As soon as winter's storms and thick
ice close the harbors and the spaces between the mainland and the
islands, the Caribous are seen moving in great gangs, first to the
islands, where, the snow being more likely to be drifted, the animal
finds places where the snow has blown away, and he can more easily
reach the moss, which at this season is its only food. As the season
increases in severity, the Caribous follow a due northwestern
direction, and gradually reach a comparatively milder climate; but
nevertheless, on their return in March and April, which return is as
regular as the migration of birds, they are so poor and emaciated that
the white man himself takes pity on them, and does not kill them.
(Merciful beings, who spare life when the flesh is off the bones, and
no market for the bones is at hand.) The Otter is tolerably abundant;
these are principally trapped at the foot of the waterfalls to which
they resort, these places being the latest to freeze, and the first to
thaw. The Marten and the Sable are caught, but are by no means
abundant, and every winter makes a deep impression on beast as well as
on man. These Frenchmen receive their supplies from Quebec, where they
send their furs and oil. At this time, which the man here calls "the
idle time," he lolls about his cabin, lies in the sunshine like a
Seal, eats, drinks, and sleeps his life away, careless of all the
world, and the world, no doubt, careless of him. His dogs are his only
companions until his partner's return, who, for all I know, is not
himself better company than a dog. They have placed their very small
cabin in a delightful situation, under the protection of an island, on
the southwestern side of the main shore, where I was surprised to find
the atmosphere quite warm, and the vegetation actually rank; for I saw
plants with leaves fully a foot in breadth, and grasses three feet
high. The birds had observed the natural advantages of this little
paradise, for here we found the musical Winter Wren in full song, the
first time in Labrador, the White-crowned Sparrow, or Bunting, singing
melodiously from every bush, the Fox-tail Sparrow, the Black-cap
Warbler, the Shore Lark nesting, but too cunning for us; the
White-throated Sparrow and a Peregrine Falcon, besides about half a
dozen of Lincoln's Finch. This afternoon the wind has been blowing a
tremendous gale; our anchors have dragged with sixty fathoms of chain
out. Yet one of the whaler's boats came to us with six men, who wished
to see my drawings, and I gratified them willingly; they, in return,
have promised to let me see a whale before cut up, if they should
catch one ere we leave this place for Bras d'Or. Crows are not
abundant here; the Ravens equal them in number, and Peregrine Falcons
are more numerous. The horse-flies are so bad that they drove our
young men on board.
_July 23._ We visited to-day the Seal establishment of a Scotchman,
Samuel Robertson, situated on what he calls Sparr Point, about six
miles east of our anchorage. He received us politely, addressed me by
name, and told me that he had received intimation of my being on a
vessel bound to this country, through the English and Canadian
newspapers. This man has resided here twenty years, married a Labrador
lady, daughter of a Monsieur Chevalier of Bras d'Or, a good-looking
woman, and has six children. His house is comfortable, and in a little
garden he raises a few potatoes, turnips, and other vegetables. He
appears to be lord of these parts and quite contented with his lot. He
told me his profits last year amounted to L600. He will not trade
with the Indians, of whom we saw about twenty, of the Montagnais
tribes, and employs only white serving-men. His Seal-oil tubs were
full, and he was then engaged in loading two schooners for Quebec with
that article. I bought from him the skin of a Cross Fox for three
dollars. He complained of the American fishermen very much, told us
they often acted as badly as pirates towards the Indians, the white
settlers, and the eggers, all of whom have been more than once obliged
to retaliate, when bloody encounters have been the result. He assured
me he had seen a fisherman's crew kill thousands of Guillemots in the
course of a day, pluck the feathers from the breasts, and throw the
bodies into the sea. He also told me that during mild winters his
little harbor is covered with pure white Gulls (the Silvery), but that
all leave at the first appearance of spring. The travelling here is
effected altogether on the snow-covered ice, by means of sledges and
Esquimaux dogs, of which Mr. Robertson keeps a famous pack. With them,
at the rate of about six miles an hour, he proceeds to Bras d'Or
seventy-five miles, with his wife and six children, in one sledge
drawn by ten dogs. Fifteen miles north of this place, he says, begins
a lake represented by the Indians as four hundred miles long by one
hundred broad. This sea-like lake is at times as rough as the ocean in
a storm; it abounds with Wild Geese, and the water-fowl breed on its
margins by millions. We have had a fine day, but very windy; Mr. R.
says this July has been a remarkable one for rough weather. The
Caribou flies have driven the hunters on board; Tom Lincoln, who is
especially attacked by them, was actually covered with blood, and
looked as if he had had a gouging fight with some rough Kentuckians.
Mr. R.'s newspapers tell of the ravages of cholera in the south and
west, of the indisposition of General Jackson at the Tremont House,
Boston, etc.; thus even here the news circulates now and then. The
mosquitoes trouble me so much that in driving them away I bespatter
my paper with ink, as thou seest, God bless thee! Good-night.
_July 24._ The _Charadrius semipalmatus_ breeds on the tops or sides
of the high hills, and amid the moss of this country. I have not found
the nest, but have been so very near the spot where it undoubtedly
was, that the female has moved before me, trailing her wings and
spreading her tail to draw me away; uttering a plaintive note, the
purpose of which I easily conceive. The Shore Lark has served us the
same way; that nest must also be placed amid the deep mosses, over
which these beautiful birds run as nimbly as can be imagined. They
have the power of giving two notes, so very different from each other
that a person not seeing the bird would be inclined to believe that
two birds of different species were at hand. Often after these notes
comes a sweet trill; all these I have thought were in intimation of
danger, and with the wish to induce the sitting mate to lie quiet and
silent. Tom Lincoln, John, and I went on shore after two Bears, which
I heard distinctly, but they eluded our pursuit by swimming from an
island to the main land. Coolidge's party went to the Murre Rocks,
where the Guillemots breed, and brought about fifteen hundred eggs.
Shattuck killed two Gannets with a stick; they could have done the
same with thousands of Guillemots when they landed; the birds
scrambled off in such a hurried, confused, and frightened manner as to
render them what Charles Bonaparte calls _stupid_, and they were so
terrified they could scarcely take to wing. The island was literally
covered with eggs, dung, and feathers, and smelt so shockingly that
Ingalls and Coolidge were quite sick. Coolidge killed a White-winged
Crossbill on these Murre rocks; for several weeks we have seen these
birds pass over us, but have found none anywhere on shore. We have had
a beautiful day, and would have sailed for Bras d'Or, but our
anchor stuck into a rock, and just as we might have sailed, a heavy
fog came on, so here we are.
[Illustration: JOHN WOODHOUSE AUDUBON.
FROM THE MINIATURE BY F. CRUIKSHANK, 1838.]