BOWDOIN BOYS IN LABRADOR. 



ON BOARD THE JULIA A. DECKER, ^ 



OFF BIRD ROCKS, 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence, Sept. 10, 1891. ) 



While our little vessel is rushing through the blue waters of 

 the gulf, apparently scorning the efforts of the swift little Halifax 

 trader who promised to keep us company from the Straits to 

 the Gut, and who, by dint of good luck and constant attention 

 to sails has thus far kept her word, but is now steadily falling 

 astern and to leeward, I will tell you about the snug little har- 

 bors, the bold headlands, barren slopes, and bird-covered rocks, 

 and also the odorous fishing villages and the kind-hearted 

 people with whom she has made us acquainted. 



The Bowdoin scientific expedition to Labrador is now familiar 

 with six of the seven wonders in this truly wonderful region. 

 It has visited Grand Falls and " Bowdoin Canyon;" has been 

 bitten by black flies and mosquitoes which only Labrador can 

 produce, both in point of quality and quantity; has wandered 

 through the carriage roads ( ! ) and gardens of Northwest River 

 and Hopedale ; has dug over, mapped and photographed the 

 prehistoric Eskimo settlements that line the shores, to the north 

 of Hamilton Inlet; has made itself thoroughly conversant with 

 the great fishing industry that has made Labrador so valuable, 

 to Newfoundland in particular, and to the codfish consuming 

 world in general ; and finally is itself the sixth wonder, in that 

 it has accomplished all it set out to do, though of course not all 

 that would have been done had longer time, better weather 

 and several other advantages been granted it. 



It is almost another wonder, too, in the eyes of the Labradore- 

 ans, that we have, without pilot and yet without accident or 

 trouble of any sort, made such a trip al6ng their rocky coast, 

 entered their most difficult harbors, and outsailed their fastest 

 vessels, revenue cutters, traders and fishermen. 



