^^6 Life of Audubon, 



and shot several birds. We passed several small bays, 

 where we found vast quantities of stones thrown up by 

 the sea, and some of them of enormous size. I now 

 think that these stones are brought from the sea on the 

 thick drift ice, or icebergs, which come down from the 

 Arctic regions, and are driven in here and broken by the 

 jagged rocks j they are stranded, and melt, and leave 

 these enormous pebbles in layers from ten to one hundred 

 feet deep. 



"jfuly 21. I write now from a harbor which has no 

 name, for we have mistaken it for the one we were look- 

 ing for, which lies two miles east of this. But it matters 

 little, for the coast of Labrador is all alike, comfortless, 

 cold, and foggy. We left the Little Macatine this morning 

 at five o'clock, with a stiff south-west breeze, and by ten 

 dropped anchor where we now are. As we doubled the 

 cape of the island called Great Macatine, we had the 

 pleasure of meeting the officers of the Gulnare, in two 

 boats, engaged in surveying the coast. We made an ex- 

 cursion into the island, but found nothing of interest. 



" In the evening we visited the officers of the Gulnare, 

 encamped in tents on shore, living in great comfort ; the 

 tea-things were yet on the iron bedstead which served as 

 a table, the trunks formed their seats, and tlie clothes- 

 bags their cushions and pillows. Their tent was made 

 of tarred cloth, which admitted neither wind nor rain. It 

 was a comfortable camp, and we were pleased to find 

 ourselves on the coast of Labrador in company with in- 

 telligent officers of the royal navy of England, gentlemen 

 of education and refined manners ; it was indeed a treat, 

 a precious one. We talked of the wild country around 

 us, and of the enormous destruction of everything which 

 is going on here, except of the rocks ; of the aborigines, 

 who are melting away before the encroachments of a 

 stronger race, as the wild animals are disappearing before 



