18 BOWDOIN BOYS IN LABRADOR. 



It will be a good many years before the visit of the " Yankee 

 college boys," the speed of the Yankee schooner and the skill 

 and seamanship of the Yankee captain are forgotten " on the 

 Labrador." 



The day after we left, July 1 9th, the mail steamer reached Battle 

 Harbor with the first mail of the season. On board were Messrs. 

 Bryant and Kenaston, anxiously looking for the Bowdoin party and 

 estimating their chances of getting to the mouth of Grand River. 

 They brought with them an Adirondack boat, of canoe model, 

 relying on the country to furnish another boat to carry the bulk 

 of their provisions and a crew to man the same. 



When the news was received that we were a day ahead, the 

 race began in earnest, the captain of the " Curlew " entering 

 heartily into the sport and doing his best to overhaul the speedy 

 Yankee schooner. When about half way up to Rigolette, on the 

 third day from Battle Harbor, as we were drifting slowly out of 

 " Seal Bight," into which we had gone the previous night to 

 escape the numerous icebergs that went grinding by, the black 

 smoke, and later the spars of the mail steamer were seen over 

 one of the numerous rocky little islets that block the entrance 

 to the bight. The steamer's flag assured us that it was certainly 

 the mail steamer, and many and anxious were the surmises as to 

 whether our rivals were on board, and earnest were the prayers 

 for a strong and favoring wind. It soon came, and we bowled 

 along at a rattling pace, our spirits rising as we could see the 

 steamer, in shore, gradually dropping astern. Towards night 

 we neared Domino Run, and losing sight of the steamer, which 

 turned out to make a stop at some wretched little hamlet that 

 had been shut out from the outer world for nine months, at 

 about the same time lost our breeze also. But the wind might 

 rise again, and time was precious, so a bright lookout was kept 

 for bergs, and we drifted on through the night. The next 

 morning a fringe of islands shut our competitor from sight, but 

 after an aggravating calm in the mouth of the inlet, we felt a 

 breeze and rushed up towards Rigolette, only to meet the steamer 

 coming out while we were yet several hours from that place. 



