A LABRADOR SPRING 



were said to have pursued them at one time 

 as far as the Natashquan River. With the 

 Eskimos, whom the Indians always hated and 

 despised and with whom they do not inter- 

 marry, they were formerly always at war. 

 While the Eskimos in the time of Jacques 

 Cartier inhabited the whole of the eastern and 

 even some of the southern coast, probably as 

 far west as the Eskimo River, they are now 

 not found south of Hamilton Inlet, or Es- 

 quimaux Bay as it was formerly called. Even 

 as late as the time of Cartwright, in the latter 

 part of the i8th century, the Eskimos came as 

 far south as the region about the Straits of 

 Belle Isle. Armed with guns procured from 

 the French, the Indians, although terrified by 

 the Iroquois, were able to strike terror in turn 

 into the hearts of the Eskimos who fell back 

 before their onslaughts and deserted this 

 southern region. Battle Harbour is said to 

 have received its name from one of the last 

 battles fought by these two aboriginal races. 

 This could hardly have been the case, however, 

 for Cartwright mentions the name Battle 

 Harbour in his Journal, although he does not 

 allude to any fight there between the two races, 



152 



