A LABRADOR SPRING 



colony. We were glad to find that the bird 

 still survived. 



Near the town the spruces and firs had been 

 so cut away that the sand was sweeping back 

 and had already overwhelmed one house. A 

 large cross, evidently erected to stop the 

 progress of the shifting dunes, stood in the 

 midst of this waste. Heretic that I was, I 

 could not help thinking it would have been 

 wiser to plant beach-grass and trees. 



As we had been told at Quebec that the mail 

 boat reaching Natashquan about the first of 

 June would continue on to Harrington, we 

 climbed aboard the " Aranmore " as she lay 

 at anchor at a long and safe distance off Natash- 

 quan, fully expecting to go on further east. 

 What was our surprise when our old friend 

 Captain Hearn turned her prow westward 

 again, and my hopes of glimpses of the bird 

 colonies of Cape Whittle and of Dr. Grenfell's 

 hospital at Harrington were dashed. However, 

 we were glad to return to Esquimaux Point, 

 and I knew by previous experience that a 

 Labrador steamer, like life itself, was very 

 uncertain. 



As unfavourable winds had prevented us 



126 



