266 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CHAP. xvii. 



considerable danger, the water in the river having fallen 

 so much as barely to aiiniit her passage, although she 

 did not draw more than six or seven inches. When 

 we came to a shallow place the men jumped out and 

 lifted the canoe over the pebbles, so that the bark, 

 already in a very shattered condition, might not touch a 

 stone. We arrived at sunset at the lake where the 

 Nasquapees, whose recent camps we saw a few days 

 before, had caught some large fish, the bones of the head 

 and vertebras being strewed round the camp fire. 



Under the direction of Michel we set a gill net, some 

 sixty yards in length, and while it was light I trolled 

 with a spoon, but without success. 



Although the spoon is unknown to the Indians of this 

 country, yet it appears to be in common use among the 

 Esquimaux, for when we reached Mingan a few weeks 

 later, Mr. Anderson, C. F., showed me two Esquimaux 

 spoons made of bone, with a hook of iron attached, which 

 he had obtained from the Esquimaux at the mouth of 

 Anderson's Eiver, between the Mackenzie and the Copper- 

 mine. These spoons were very ingeniously contrived, 

 and the line is adjusted first through two holes at the end 

 of the spoon, afterwards passing to one in the side, so 

 as to give it, to a certain extent, a revolving motion when 

 drawn quickly through the water, similar to that produced 

 by a swivel. 



The following are the dimensions of those in Mr. 

 Anderson's possession : 



Length of spoon and hook . . . . 4j inches 



Length of bone spoon ..... 2 T 4 o 



Hook of copper or iron nearly two-tenths of an inch thick, without barb. 



