160 THE LABRADOE PENINSULA. chap. xxx. 



Uniform hospitality is the characteristic trait of the 

 Labradorians. With a few exceptions, they are very like 

 one another in their manners and customs. Under many 

 circumstances, property may be said to be held in com- 

 mon. When the stock of provisions belonging to one 

 family is exhausted, those of a neighbour are offered as 

 a matter of course, without any payment being exacted 

 or even expected. When a ' planter,' as they are often 

 termed on the coast, has occasion to leave his house with 

 his family, it is the custom to leave the door on the latch, 

 so that a passer-by or a neighbour can enter at any time. 

 Provisions are left in accessible places, and sometimes a 

 notice, written with charcoal or chalk, faces the stranger 

 as he eiiters, informing him where he may find a supply 

 of the necessaries of life if he should be in want of them. 

 Father Pinet (0. M. I.*) relates that he came one day to 

 the house of a planter durmg the absence of the family, 

 and not only found directions how and where to find the 

 provisions, rudely Avritten in chalk, for the benefit of any 

 passing stranger, but one of his party, on opening a box, 

 saw a purse lying quite exposed, and containing a con- 

 siderable sum of money. The vice of drunkenness is the 

 only one of which the missionaries complain in their 

 reports. Tlie swarms of American fishermen who come 

 here during the summer montlis bring an ample supply 

 of whisky and rum for the purposes of trade. It would 

 be a boon to the Labradorians if the importation, in any 

 form, of ardent spirits were strictly prohibited by the 

 Canadian and Newfoundland Governments. Give these 



* Oblat tie Marie Iinniaculee. 



