162 THE LABRADOR PEiYINSULA. chap. xxx. 



sumption, and return late in autumn to the interior, 

 where they pass the winter in trapping fur-bearing animals. 

 The Esquimaux* half-breeds live much in the same way 

 as their European progenitors, and though unacquainted 

 with any particular form of rehgious worship, they 

 evince in their general conduct a greater regard for the 

 precepts of Christianity than many who call themselves 

 Christians. Mr. McLean was surprised to find all the 

 Esquimaux half-breeds able to read and write, although 

 without schools or schoolmasters. The task of teaching 

 devolves upon the mother ; should she, however, be un- 

 qualified, a neighbour is always ready to impart the 

 desired instruction. Here we see the good effect of the 

 work of the Moravian missionaries. Conjure up, if we can, 

 the picture of an Esquimaux half-breed mother, seated 

 in her rude ' tilt,' f teaching her children to read and 

 write. A thermometer outside would register perhaps 

 twenty degrees below zero, and the ceaseless hum of the 

 Atlantic swell is heard day and night as the breakers dash 

 on rocks or masses of ice piled up on the beach like a wall, 

 which the freezing spray consohdates, until a barrier is 

 formed strong enough to last until the warm breath of 

 spring loosens the band, or a storm tears it away. 



The Esquimaux half-breeds are very ingenious; the 

 men make their own boats, and the women prepare 

 everything required for domestic convenience ; almost 

 every man is his own blacksmith and carpenter, and 



* Esquimaux — from the Cree words ' asliki,' raw ; ' mow/ to eat — eaters 

 of raw flesli. 



I 'Tilt.' The planters on the Atlantic coast call their houses 'tilts.' 

 They are generally formed of stakes driven into the ground, chinked with 

 moss, and covered with bark. They are warmed with stoves. 



