24 BOWDOIN BOYS IN LABRADOR. 



devoting an hour or two at our leisure to demolishing the few 

 stragglers that remained within ; or possibly the whole night, if 

 an unknown breach had been found by the wily mosquito some- 

 where in our carefully made defenses. A few bones were taken 

 from the Eskimo graves that abound on the island, but the mos- 

 quitoes seriously interfered with such work and the party soon 

 returned to the vessel. The absolutely calm night allowed the 

 mosquitoes to reach us and stay ; and in spite of its brevity and 

 the utter stillness of the vast solitude about us, broken only now 

 and then by a noise from the little Halifax trader whose acquaint- 

 ance we here made for the first time, and of whom we saw so 

 much on our return voyage across the gulf, or by the howling of 

 wolves and Eskimo dogs in the distance, we were glad when it 

 was over and a morning breeze chased from our decks the invad- 

 ing hosts. 



A short stop at Rigolette, to send about fifty letters ashore, a 

 two days' delay in a cold, easterly storm at Turner Cove, on the 

 south side of the inlet, when the icy winds, in contrast to the 

 warm weather we had lately enjoyed, made us put on our heavy 

 clothes and, even then, shiver — a delay, however, that we did 

 not grudge, for we were in a land of fish, game and labradorite — 

 this of a poor quality, as we afterward learned — and where the 

 doctor had more patients than he could easily attend to. At 

 last a pleasant Sunday's run to Indian Harbor got us clear of 

 Hamilton Inlet. There we found the usual complement of fish 

 and fishing apparatus, but with the addition of a few Yankee 

 vessels and a church service. 



The latter we were quite surprised to find, and several went, 

 out of curiosity, and had the satisfaction of finding a small room, 

 packed with about fifty human beings, with no ventilation what- 

 ever, and of sitting on seats about four inches wide with no 

 backs. The people were earnest and respectful, but did not 

 seem to understand all that was said, as, perhaps, is not to be 

 wondered at, since they are the poorest class of Newfoundlanders. 



Indian Harbor is like so many others on the coast, merely a 

 " tickle " with three ticklish entrances full of sunken rocks and 

 treacherous currents. The small islands that make the harbor 



