CHAP. XXIX. HAMILTON INLET. I35 



spring that much fish is taken in their nets (small fish, keepino- 

 in deep water in the winter months, swimming little about), and 

 the large trout ilfever meshes in our lakes, but is taken with a 

 hook and line, which the Indians manufacture out of the bones 

 of the deer. 



The couriers of the Hudson's Bay Company traverse the 

 country between Musquarro and Hamilton Inlet two or 

 three times every year. The journey can be made in 

 fifteen days in canoes, and this route has long been a 

 mean of communication between Hamilton Inlet and the 

 Gidf. The St. Augustine forms the great canoe route of 

 the Montagnais through this part of tlie country ; the Me- 

 sickkimau or North-west Eiver, sometimes represented on 

 published maps as falling into Esquimaux Bay on the 

 Gulf, is a large tributary of Esquimaux .Bay or Hamilton 

 Inlet on the Atlantic, and near its hea'd-waters in the 

 XJngava district a numerous band of Nasquapees have 

 their chief winter quarters. The St. Augustine, falling 

 into a fine bay of the same name, has its source in the 

 lakes and marshes on the table-land, which also give rise 

 to the Kenamou which falls into Hamilton Inlet. By 

 this route the Montagnais can journey in their canoes 

 from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Hamilton Inlet in seven 

 days. The residents on the coast, or Labradorians as 

 they may well be termed, frequent the St. Augustine in 

 the winter and travel towards its source. Timber of fair 

 size is represented to be found in abundance some fifteen 

 miles from the sea-shore. It is on this river that the 

 curious migration of animals every third or fourth year is 

 particularly observed. The year 1857 was one of these 

 migratory years, and during the winter the hunters on the 

 lower part of the St. Augustine, fifty miles from the sea, 



