Extermination of Animals. 325 



tain carp, trout, white fish, and many mussels unfit _ to 

 eat ; the latter are described as black outside and purple 

 within, and are no doubt * unios/ Not a bush is to be 

 met with ; and the Indians who now and then cross that 

 region carry their tent-poles with them, and also their 

 canoes, and burn moss for fiael. So tedious is the trav- 

 elling said to be, that not more than ten miles a day can 

 be accomplished, and when the journey is made in two 

 months, it is considered a good one. Wolves and black 

 bears abound, but no deer nor caraboos are seen, and 

 not a bird of any kind except wild geese and brants 

 about the lakes, where they breed. When the journey is 

 undertaken in winter, they go on snow shoes, without 

 canoes. Fur animals are scarce, but a few beavers and 

 otters, martins and sables, are caught, and some foxes and 

 lynxes, while their numbers yearly diminish. Thus the 

 Fur Company may be called the exterminating medium 

 of these wild and almost uninhabitable regions, which cu- 

 pidity or the love of money alone would induce man to 

 venture into. Where can I now go and find nature un- 

 disturbed ? 



" J^mie 25. Drawing all day until five o'clock, when 

 I went to dine on board the Gulnare ; quite a bore to 

 shave and dress in Labrador. The company consisted 

 of the captain, doctor, and three other officers ; we had a 

 good sea dinner, cod and mutton, good wine and some 

 excellent snuff, of which I took a pinch or two. Conver- 

 sation turned on Botany, politics, and the Established 

 Church of England, and ranged away to hatching eggs 

 by steam. I saw the maps the officers are making of 

 the coast, and was struck with the great accuracy of the 

 shape of our perfect harbor. I returned to our vessel at 

 ten in the evening ; the weather is warm, and the mos- 

 quitoes abundant and hungry. 



" ^ufte 26. We have now been waiting five days for 



