12 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CIIAP. i. 



other rivers and lakes which flow into the same.' The 

 leading object was, however, to obtain as much informa- 

 tion as possible respecting the general features and 

 resources of that portion of the Labrador Peninsula, and 

 of the Montagnais who now hunt chiefly on the coast, as 

 well as of the Nasquapees who roam throughout the 

 interior. The extent and character of the information 

 accessible to the public respecting these Indians may be 

 gathered from the following extract from the Eeport of 

 the Special Commissioners appointed by the Government 

 of Canada to investigate Indian affairs, published in 

 1858: 



To the tribes above enumerated we may add the Misstassins 

 and Nasquapees, on the Lower St. Lawrence. The latter are 

 akin to the Montagnais, and number about 2,500, of whom 

 1,500 are still pagans. This tribe acknowledge a Superior 

 Being, who they say lives in the sun and moon. In this respect 

 their legends correspond with the Ottawas. To this Deity they 

 sacrifice a portion of everything they kill. They are clothed 

 altogether in furs and deer skins, and are described as being 

 most filthy in their habits. Their only weapons are the bow 

 and arrow, and they resort to the use of the drill for the purpose 

 of igniting their fires. * 



The existence of the Ashwanipi Eiver, and its supposed 

 rise in the rear of Seven Islands, was mentioned twenty 

 years ago by Mr. W. H. A. Davies in a paper read before 

 the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec in 1842. 

 Mr. Davies derived his information from Indians visiting 

 the Hudson's Bay Company's post, on Invertoke, or Hamil- 

 ton Inlet. In describing the rivers which enter that 



* Appendix to the sixteenth vol. of the Journals of the Legislative 

 Assembly of the Province of Canada, Session 



