CHAPTER V 



THE CRUISE OF LA BELLE MARGUERITE FROM 

 ESQUIMAUX POINT TO NATASHQUAN 



" Through the Northern Gulf and the misty screen 

 Of the isles of Mingan and Madeleine." 



Whittier. 



Labrador Coast from the base of the 

 Peninsula to Cape Charles at the en- 

 trance of the Straits of Belle Isle is nearly 

 600 miles in length, and from Cape Charles to 

 Cape Chidley at the northern extremity of the 

 eastern coast the distance is about 700 miles. 

 With a few insignificant gaps this entire coast 

 line of over one thousand miles is so beset with 

 islands that it is possible to cruise in a small 

 boat in protected water-ways nearly the whole 

 distance. One must bide one's time, however, 

 in the gaps, for in the Gulf of St. Lawrence as 

 well as on the Atlantic Coast the seas are often 

 of the stormiest. 



At Esquimaux Point, with the kind assist- 



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