2 VIKINGS OF TO-DAY 



accurate, graphic, and authoritative words of the 

 Encyclopedia Britannica. 



"Labrador, properly so called," says the Encyclo- 

 pedia, " is the peninsular portion of North America, 

 bounded by the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the North At- 

 lantic, Hudson Straits, Hudson Bay, and vaguely 

 defined towards the S.W. by Rupert's River, Mistas- 

 sini River, and Bersiamits River. Its greatest length 

 is T,IOO miles, its greatest breadth 700 miles. The 

 area is approximately 420,000 square miles, that is, 

 as large as the British Isles, France, and Austria. 

 The coast from Blanc Sablon, a spot 85 miles up 

 the Straits of Belle Isle, to Cape Chidley at the en- 

 trance to Hudson Bay straits, and all the off-lying 

 islands, with the country inland about 70 miles, are 

 under the government of Newfoundland. The rest 

 is part of the province of Quebec, under Canadian 

 rule." 



Sterile and forbidding it lies among fogs and ice- 

 bergs, famous only besides for dogs and cod. "God 

 made this country last," says an old navigator. " He 

 had no other view in end than to throw together 

 here the refuse of His materials as of no use to 

 mankind." 



" As a permanent abode of civilized man," says the 

 Encyclopedia Britannica, " Labrador is, on the whole, 

 one of the most uninviting spots on the face of the 

 earth. A vast tableland occupies much of the in- 

 terior. This plateau, says Professor Hind, is pre- 

 eminently sterile, and where the country is not 



