428 AUDUBON 



ered with fishing-boats employed in procuring mackerel, 

 some of which we appropriated to ourselves. Signs of 

 cultivation were observed on the slopes of the hills, the 

 trees seemed of goodly size, a river made its way between 

 two ranges of steep rocks, and here and there a group 

 of Micmac Indians were searching along the shores for 

 lobsters, crabs, and eels, all of which we found abundant 

 and delicious. A canoe laden with Reindeer meat came 

 alongside, paddled by a pair of athletic Indians, who ex- 

 changed their cargo for some of our stores. You would 

 have been amused to see the manner in which these men, 

 and their families on shore cooked the lobsters ; they 

 threw them alive into a great wood fire, and as soon as 

 they were broiled devoured them, while yet so hot that 

 none of us could have touched them. When properly 

 cooled, I tasted these roasted lobsters, and found them 

 infinitely better flavored than boiled ones. The country 

 was represented as abounding in game. The temperature 

 was higher by twenty degrees than that of Labrador, and 

 yet I was told that the ice in the bay seldom broke up 

 before the middle of May, and that few vessels attempted 

 to go to Labrador before the lOth of June, when the cod- 

 fishery at once commences. 



One afternoon we were visited by a deputation from the 

 inhabitants of the village, inviting our whole party to a 

 ball which was to take place that night, and requesting us 

 to take with us our musical instruments. We unanimously 

 accepted the invitation, which had been made from friendly 

 feelings ; and finding that the deputies had a relish for 

 "old Jamaica" we helped them pretty freely to some, 

 which soon showed that it had lost nothing of its energies 

 by having visited Labrador. At ten o'clock, the appointed 

 hour, we landed, and were lighted to the dancing-hall by 

 paper lanterns, one of us carrying a flute, another a violin, 

 and I with a flageolet stuck into my waistcoat pocket. 



The hall proved nothing else than the ground-floor of 



