114 TITE LAREADOR PENIXSULA. thaf. xxviii. 



near liim waiting for tlie tide. As we approached lie 

 turned his liead round, ]o(^ked at me, tlien at his wife, 

 then at the winding-sheet, whicli slie carried on her arm. 

 The eyes of tlie sick man rested for a few moments on 

 his shroud, and then turned to the setting sun. The 

 wife stepped into tlie boat, and, taking her place at the 

 feet of her husband, rolled up the cloth, and, placing it 

 upon her knees, sat motionless as a statue. A dog sat on 

 one of the seats of the boat ; every now and then he 

 raised his head, and howled low and long as if he were 

 baying at the sun. 



I turned away, not wishing to intrude upon the silent 

 sorrows of the poor Indians ; and on looking back, when 

 some distance from the shore, I saw them still in the same 

 position, and heard again the long low howl of the appa- 

 rently conscious dog, bidding farewell to the sun, which 

 at that moment dipped below the western waves. Early 

 on the next morning I went to look for the boat, but it 

 was gone. I enquired of some Indians, who were just 

 returning with a seal they had shot in the harbour, 

 whether the man was dead ; they said, ' No, not when 

 they started, but he'll die to-morrow night.' 



The cause of the general sickness Mr. Anderson attri- 

 buted to the foggy and rainy weatlier Avhich had pre- 

 vailed at Mingan for ten days preceding our arrival. 

 There is no doubt that many would recover if properly 

 fed and clothed, and particularly if the superstition that 

 death will come with the setting sun were banished from 

 their minds. 



I went into the old grave-yard at Mingan. Many of 

 the crosses were follino; down, find as no care seemed t(» 



