INTRODUCTION. 



two or three of these locations a sort of idea may be obtained of what 

 is to be seen elsewhere along the coast, as the simple inhabitants 

 differ little in customs and manners. 



The line which divides these two portions of territory is estab- 

 lished in a direct northern route from the settlement of Blanc Sa- 

 blon, which is only about twenty miles from Bonne Esperance, the 

 residence of Mr. William H. Whiteley, the magistrate for this part 

 of the coast. 



Of course the trading post of St. Augustine was not the only 

 one on the coast. It was simply the only one which the peo- 

 ple within a radius of fifty miles recognized as available for uses of 

 immediate trade, while yet a licensed station. From St. Augustine 

 almost to the head of the St. Lawrence River, many places such 

 as Tadousac, Port Neuf, Goodbout, Seven Islands, and Mingan ; 

 Natashquan, Musquarro, Romaine, and perhaps others, were regular 

 posts of the Hudson's Bay Company, and, together, formed a chain 

 of the most important localities along the coast, all of which be- 

 longed to the Eastern division of what is known as the Montreal 

 Department, which, with the Northern, the Southern, and the Col- 

 umbian Departments, form the four portions into which that great 

 Company is divided. As the southwesternmost of these posts is 

 not far from Quebec, a sort of central station for most of the trad- 

 ing of this region, one can see quite easily that the settlers along the 

 coast are not so far from communication with civilization, especially 

 in summer, as one would at first imagine ; though in the long winter 

 months when the bays and harbors are frozen over so that no ves- 

 sels can approach, and no boats can sail from post to post, to the 

 stranger at such a time on these ice-bound shores the prospect seems 

 dreary enough. In the winter, travelling is mostly on foot, shod 

 with the racket as it is called, a sort of padded or rather wicker 

 snowpad ; or on komatiks or sledges drawn by dogs which can go 

 -over the high hills, lining the very coast, with safety and often with 

 great speed. Yet Labrador in as low a latitude as it is, compared 

 to what is beyond, and as near civilization as it is compared to what 

 is beyond, though pleasant for a short time in summer, is suffi- 



