CHAT. i. EXTENT AND BOUNDARIES OF THE PENINSULA. 7 



canoes were depressed to within six inches of the gunwale, 

 but as we contemplated a week's work in making the 

 passage of the Grand Portage, which was represented to 

 be nine miles long, round the magnificent Grand Eapids of 

 the Moisie, it was thought that the consumption of pro- 

 visions during that time would sufficiently diminish the 

 load in the canoes before we reached the more difficult 

 and dangerous part of the river. The fourth canoe, a 

 Montagnais, was left behind on account of the many 

 formidable portages which we should have to encounter, 

 and the necessity for travelling as ' light ' as possible 

 through the rugged country before us. 



Having enumerated the personnel of the exploring 

 party, we may here fitly glance at the geographical posi- 

 tion of the country which we were about to penetrate. 



The vast peninsula which commonly bears the name of 

 Labrador a term more correctly applied to the north- 

 eastern portion occupies an area between the Atlantic 

 and Hudson's Bay, lying within the 49th and 63rd 

 parallels, and between the 55th and 79th meridians. The 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence, the North Atlantic, Hudson's Straits 

 and Hudson's Bay are its boundaries on three sides ; 

 Eupert's Eiver, the Mistassini, and the Bersamits Eiver 

 may be considered as forming the approximate limits to 

 the south-west. From the mouth of Eupert's Eiver on 

 Hudson's Bay, to the mouth of the Bersamits on the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence, the distance is about 470 miles ; and 

 from Cape Wolstenholme the most northern point of 

 the country, to the Straits of Belle Isle, it is 1,100 miles. 

 Travelling northwards, from the Hudson's Bay Company's 

 post at Bersamits, in a direct line to Ungava Bay, the 



