LABRADOR 



3287 



LABRADOR 



The People and Their Surroundings. There 

 are only about 4,000 people in Labrador, an 

 average of one to every thirty square miles, 

 but the population is concentrated in small, 



LOCATION MAP 



scattered settlements. In the barren north the 

 people are chiefly Eskimos; in the south live 

 Algonquian Indians, and here and there in the 

 various settlements live a few whites. The 

 homes of these fur-clad people are tents of 

 skins or rude huts of stones or wood, often 

 banked with snow and shaped like beehives. 

 Although native dialects are still employed, 

 English is generally spoken, and over one-third 

 of the people belong to the Church of England. 

 Many of the natives have been taught to read 

 and write through the efforts of Moravian mis- 

 sionaries, who have stations at Nain, Okkak, 

 Hopedale and Hebron. The Indians of the 

 south are principally Roman Catholic. Through 

 the heroic work of Wilfred Thomasen Grenfell, 

 medical aid and a brighter future have been 

 brought to Labrador's poor fisherfolk. 



As the climate of the country is exceedingly 

 cold and stormy at all times, excepting during 

 a short summer season, the country is not 

 adapted to agriculture. Moss and lichens are 

 the principal forms of vegetation in the north ; 



stunted growths of poplar, pine, birch and wil- 

 low are found in the south. Fronting the At- 

 lantic, Labrador presents a wall of rocky cliffs 

 from 1,000 to 6,000 feet high, which are cut 

 into numerous bays and fiords matching the 

 Norway coast in beauty. The northern lights 

 appear with brilliant frequency. 



Labrador streams are rich in excellent food 

 !ish. which, with the cod and salmon fisheries 

 of the coast, furnish summer occupations re- 

 sulting in great wealth to Newfoundland. 

 Valuable fur-bearing animals abound, and the 

 trapping of silver, red and white foxes, marten, 

 lynx, otter, mink, beaver and bears is the prin- 

 cipal winter occupation. Caribou of the inte- 

 rior, and seals of the coast, are the principal 

 sources of animal food to the inhabitants. 

 Dogs and reindeer are the only domesticated 

 animals, and both are used to draw sledges, 

 the sole means of land conveyance. Canoes 

 traverse the waters for hundreds of miles. 

 Eagles, hawks, white grouse and numerous 

 varieties of waterfowl, are plentiful. Mosqui- 

 toes are as numerous and troublesome during 

 their brief season in this land of almost con- 

 tinuous Arctic weather as in southern climates. 

 The mineral resources of Labrador are prac- 

 tically untouched, but large deposits of iron 

 and labradorite exist. 



Government. Labrador is under the juris- 

 diction of the Newfoundland government, 

 which is administered by a governor, assisted 

 by an executive council, a legislative council 

 and a house of assembly. 



History. In the tenth century, Leif, the 

 Norseman, discovered the Labrador coast, but 

 no explorations were made. It was again dis- 

 covered in 1497 by John Cabot. Explorations 

 and settlements were made, and the name 

 Labrador was given to the entire peninsula, 

 which is now almost entirely a part of Cana- 

 da's province of Quebec. It is believed that 

 this peninsula was called Labrador because 

 Portuguese explorers thought the natives 

 would make good laborers, or slaves. Until 

 1840 the section was practically unexplored; 

 then officers of the Hudson's Bay Company 

 traversed the interior. The coast strip now 

 constituting Labrador proper has changed 

 ownership several times, and the exact bound- 

 aries were long disputed by Newfoundland and 

 the Dominion of Canada. Continuous enmity 

 exists between the Indians of the south and 

 the Eskimos of the north. R.MCF. 



Consult Grenf ell's Labrador, the Country and 

 the People; Dwight's Children of Labrador. 



