A LABRADOR SPRING 



are not slow in talking, said he never saw 

 people with so much to say to each other. If 

 they meet after two hours' absence, he said, they 

 jabber away as if they had not seen each other 

 for months. For example, he had watched six 

 men shingling the roof of the doctor's house, 

 and they were talking so hard that only semi- 

 occasionally was a nail driven. A couple of 

 Yankees, he was sure, could have done the 

 work in half the time but this perhaps was 

 merely spread-eagleism. 



At all events, the people seemed to be enjoy- 

 ing themselves and to be looking forward with 

 pleasure to the short three or four months' 

 fishing season after the long winter. The 

 winter is the season of wood-cutting, of visiting 

 and of travelling along the icy pathway of the 

 coast on dog-sleds, while the summer is devoted 

 to fishing, and about 150 sails hail from Esqui- 

 maux Point. The summer is their season of 

 work, the winter they call play. 



The boats, like the houses, are all of the same 

 type. Each boat was about thirty feet in 

 length, pointed at both ends and schooner- 

 rigged with two masts, although the jib and a 

 bowsprit were often lacking. Picturesque 



72 



