" FISH, DOGS, AND SEAL." 173 



balanced deck of a vessel. The impression upon the snow is about 



) as shown in the figure. Place a number of these figures in a 

 ( line, one before the other, and you have the impression ; im- 



) agine the foot as it swings the circle of the loop and you have 

 ( the step. I walked with one of the neighbors into the river, 



) as it is called, that is, to the Mission settlement, seven miles 

 away ; my feet were sore for days afterwards, but I soon became 

 expert in the use of the rackets, and before many weeks was 

 using them as freely as if I had lived in Labrador all my life. 



Wednesday evening a party of neighbors called from about fif- 

 teen miles to the westward, and amused us with the news, of which 

 there was very little, and the gossip of which there was a great deal. 

 They were very pleasant, and concerning their hobbies — fish, dogs, 

 and seals — quite intelligent. Hunting is generally the chief topic of 

 conversation in the winter, and though game appears scarce this 

 year, I have the word of so many that I cannot doubt the asser- 

 tion that last year ('79-'8o), two young fellows shot and snared 

 eight hundred rabbits and about three hundred ptarmigans ; they 

 sold part of them farther to the north for a shilling (twenty cents) 

 a pair, while those remaining not eaten were salted down for future 

 use. 



Tuesday the nth. We were nearly turned out of the house 

 for the day and the rest of the week, by the owner using the only 

 available room for a carpenter's shop, while he made him a new 

 komatik ; for some trifling reason, however, the sled was not a suc- 

 cess, and was used but very little, the old one being preferred in 

 its place. 



I was very fortunate to-day in getting a large number of skeletons 

 of mammalia, from a gentleman now in charge of the (this year's) 

 unused habitation of the Hudson's Bay Company's post at St. 

 Augustine, — I mean unused this year by the company. There 

 were several skeletons of the beaver, the mountain cat, as it is here 

 called, or Canada lynx {Lynx Canadensis), several specimens 

 each of the common red, the cross, and the patch fox, together 

 with one of the white or arctic fox ( Vulpes lagopus ) , besides 



