A LABRADOR SPRING 



was the bearberry. This also came into 

 flower before we left. 



Although not a new leaf bud had opened, 

 there was one conspicuous exception to the 

 flowerless vegetation, and this was the moun- 

 tain saxifrage which grew in great abundance 

 on the limestone cliffs of Esquimaux Island. 

 It is a tufted moss-like plant, the leaves ever- 

 green and inconspicuous, but the flowers, of a 

 wonderful shade of pink, so crowded the ends 

 of the short stems that they formed glorious 

 masses of colour, hanging in festoons from the 

 cliffs or studding the rocks in great bosses. 

 It was in full flower when we first discovered it 

 on May 25th, and it exhaled a fragrance like 

 that of the trailing arbutus, but much more 

 delicate. 



Another sign of spring was the continued 

 trilling of toads which greeted my ears that first 

 evening at the Pointe aux Esquimaux, - 

 a sound which is always associated in my mind 

 with pussy willows and a brown, wet country- 

 side, but with the glorious promise of bright 

 flowers, migrating birds and the coming of sum- 

 mer. Although this sound is at times almost 

 overpowering in its intensity in New England 



17 



