A LABRADOR SPRING 



ance of the government physician, Dr. Trem- 

 blay, we were put in touch with two good men, 

 Mathias and Martial, owners of a fishing-boat, 

 with whom we proposed to cruise along the coast 

 to the eastward, stopping wherever we wished 

 and exploring all places of interest. The boat 

 was like all the fishing-boats of that shore, 

 staunch and seaworthy, thirty feet long and 

 pointed at the ends like a canoe or ancient 

 caravel. I suppose its model dated back to 

 European ones, although an evolution from the 

 Indian canoe at once struck my fancy. The 

 birch canoe of the Indians in this region has 

 been replaced by them with one of the same 

 model but covered with painted canvas. The 

 ease with which canvas can be obtained as com- 

 pared with birch bark of the proper size, its 

 lightness and strength and resistance to injury, 

 has endeared the canvas canoes to the Indian, 

 as well as to the white. The next step in the 

 evolution is the wooden canoe, a stauncher and 

 stronger boat and useful on the sea, one that 

 is propelled both by oars and paddles. From 

 that to the strong canoe-shaped rowing boats 

 used as tenders by the fishermen here seems 

 also a simple step, while the large sailing boat 



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