AN ACADIAN VILLAGE 



boats they were, especially when the sails were 

 dyed a light pink or terra cotta red to preserve 

 them from the weather. About the middle of 

 June they all depart for the cod fishing banks 

 off Natashquan, and they return with their 

 cargoes of dried and salted fish about the 

 middle of July, to begin the deep-sea fishing 

 eight or ten miles off the home port, a season 

 that lasts two or three months more. Hand 

 lines only are used, which leave their impress 

 in deep grooves on the sides of the boats. Net 

 traps, so universal on the eastern coast of 

 Labrador, are not allowed here. 



The scene in the village and on the beach 

 at this time was always interesting and pic- 

 turesque. One man in the hurry of his work 

 had pressed a small cow into service; she was 

 dragging a tiny cart loaded with ropes and nets 

 down to his boat on the beach, while he dra- 

 matically strode on ahead. 



Religion takes a prominent place in the lives 

 of these people. The church bells ring out 

 many times a day to summon them to prayer, 

 and to prayer they go, not the women and 

 children merely as in some communities and 

 some faiths, but men too unless they are absent 



73 



