CHAPTER VII 



THE MONTAGNAIS INDIANS 



" Oh, for a lodge in some vast wilderness." 



Cowper. 



THE Labrador peninsula is a region well 

 adapted for fur-bearing animals. Along 

 the edges on the eastern and southern coasts the 

 white settler has long since well-nigh exter- 

 minated or driven off these animals with the 

 notable exception of the crafty fox, but the 

 interior still serves as a habitation and fairly 

 safe refuge for many beasts, although their 

 numbers are considerably diminished owing to 

 extensive fires * that have swept the country, 

 and to constant persecution. Most of the 

 interior is unexplored by the white man, yet 

 his influence through powder and ball supplied 



1 According to Hind immense forest fires occurred in 

 Labrador in 1785, 1814, 1857 and 1859, and a very extensive 

 one I was told by Mr. J. A. Wilson, the factor at Mingan, 

 occurred about 40 years ago. 



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