cuAr. xxxiii. FORTEAU BAY AND ENGLISH POINT. 197 



of an English parsonage, with all its hospitalities and 

 comforts.' ' I doubt,' says the Bishop in describing the 

 evening of June 25, 1853, 'whether any part of this 

 world could have witnessed a more bright and beautiful 

 midsummer-day's evening, or a party more rejoicing in it 

 and for it, than ours at English Point, in Forteau Bay, on 

 the Labrador.' The first confirmation in this Avild country 

 was celebrated on June 26, 1853, and on the following- 

 day the first grave-yard was consecrated, at English 

 Point, Forteau Bay, Tlie grave-yard was temporarily 

 fenced with old seal-nets, characteristic of the industry 

 and resources of the country. In the rear of English 

 Point are four beautiful lakes, which stretch twelve miles 

 into the interior, and communicate with a wooded country. 

 Currant bushes and other fruit-bearing plants are nume- 

 rous a short distance from the shore. 



This settlement promises to become of importance in 

 the course of a few years. Although the shores are both 

 barren and mountainous, yet the lake affords valuable 

 means of communication witli the interior. Eed Bay, 

 thirty miles from Forteau, formed, in 1853, the limits of 

 Mr. GifTord's mission: here at that time a grave-yard was 

 consecrated, and wood for building a church collected. 



It was on Sunday, July 10, 1853, that the first church 

 on the Labrador was consecrated by the Bishop of New- 

 foundland. Is it not a marvel that during the past century 

 — which has seen the Labrador coast visited by sometimes 

 1,000 vessels a year, carrying 30,000 men, for the purpose 

 of gathering food and luxuries for such Cathohc countries 

 as France, Spain, Portugal, and Austria — the first Christian 

 church on the coast of Labrador proper should, since the 



