48 BOWDOIK BOYS IN LABRADOR. 



known sea whose waves unseen dash along the coasts of Lab- 

 rador from its westward to its northern shores and Cape Chud- 

 leigh. All these explorations he accomplished in a sailing ves- 

 sel about the size of the Julia A. Decker, the ship "Discoverie" 

 of seventy tons. He had wintered at the southern extremity 

 of Hudson's Bay surrounded by a mutinous crew. In the 

 hardships and suffering of the next season, after he had divided 

 his last bread with his men, in the summer of 1611, while near 

 the western coast of Labrabor, half way back to the Straits, 

 by an ungrateful crew he was thrust into a sail boat with his 

 son John and five sailors sick and blind with scurvy, and was 

 left to perish in the great -waste of waters, which, bearing his 

 name, is " his tomb and his monument." Cole, with his mind and 

 imagination filled with these facts, involuntarily took his knife 

 and carved his name and the expedition on the upper part of 

 the tree which formed his outlook. It might be his monument 

 as the Inland Sea was that of Hudson. Then to have the tree 

 marked and observable to other eyes, in case other eyes should 

 see that country, he commenced to cut the branches from near 

 the top of the tall spruce. He regretted much the leaving of 

 the hatchet with Cary as he was obliged to do the work with 

 his knife, It was a slow and laborious job. His imagination, 

 as it roamed over the wide land, and his interest in his present 

 efforts, had consumed time faster than he knew, and the slanting 

 rays of the western sun started him with thoughts of Cary and 

 supper. It was dark when he reached Cary and he was still 

 asleep. The hatchet was idle, and he wished more than ever 

 that his efforts on the branches of the marked Bowdoin Spruce 

 had been rendered less laborious and more expeditious by the 

 aid of this, to be hereafter his constant companion and source 

 of safety along with another and more diminutive friend, a 

 pocket pistol. 



The falls proper are three hundred and sixteen feet high, 

 and just above the river narrows from two hundred and 

 fifty to fifty yards, the water shooting over a somewhat 

 gradual downward course and then plunging straight down 

 with terrific force the distance mentioned, and with an immense 



