CHAPTER XXVII. 



En Route to Labrador — Giit of Canseau — Magdalene Island — Thl 

 Inhabitants — Ornithological Notes — Birds on the Rock — First 

 Impressions of Labrador — Halifax Eggers. 



" yu7ie II. From the entrance to the Gut of Canseau, 

 where the Ripley lay at anchor, Audubon had the first 

 view of the South-eastern coast of Nova Scotia, which he 

 describes as ' dreary, rocky, poor and inhospitable look- 

 ing.' It snowed the next day, yet when the party went 

 ashore, they found not only trees in bloom, but the ground 

 plants were in flower, and some tolerably good-looking 

 grass ; and they saw also robins, and sparrows, and 

 finches, and their nests with young ones. But no custom- 

 house officer appeared, nor any individual who could 

 give them any valuable information. They found lobsters 

 very abundant, and caught forty in a very short time ; 

 but to their surprise they did not see a single bird. 



" yune 12. To day there has been cold, rain and hail, 

 but the frogs are piping in the pools. By-and-by the 

 weather became beautiful, and the wind fair, and we 

 were soon under way, following in the wake of the whole 

 fleet, which had been anchored in the harbor of Canseau, 

 and gliding across the great bay under full press of sail. 

 The land locked us in, the water was smooth, the sky 

 serene, and the thermometer at 46°, and the sunshine on 

 deck was very agreeable. After sailing twenty-one miles 

 we entered the real Gut of Canseau, passing one after 

 another every vessel of the fleet with which we had sailed. 



" The land on each side now rose in the form of an am- 

 phitheatre, and on the Nova Scotia side to a considerable 



