igo A SUMMER SAIL TO THE LABRADOR COAST 



CATCH OF COD-FISH. 



sledge can be made when lined with sealskins and covered over 

 with a white bear robe, so as to form a sort of a bag into which the 

 traveller can introduce his body. The best are shod with whalebone 

 runners, which after constant use receive a polish like that of ivory. 

 Runners can be made by simply freezing mud and water to the sledge, 

 the adhering amalgam soon growing smooth from the friction. 



In the winter season the dog team is indispensable. Seventy 

 miles a day is an ordinary journey, and should a sudden storm come 

 on, the keen noses of the team may be relied on to pick their way 

 home without a fault. By this means wood is brought from the 

 interior, venison hauled out when killed in the wilderness, and social 

 intercourse becomes possible between the widely scattered little 

 communities over the frozen sea. Communication between the 

 isolated little coast settlements, often consisting of three or four 

 rude houses nestling in sheltered nooks and crannies of the cliffs, 

 is chiefly by water during the summer, and in winter time either 

 by snow-shoes, made of caribou hide, or else by dog sledge. 



Not only in appearance, but in character and habits, many 

 of the dogs approach closely to the wolf. In summer, when their 

 usefulness is gone for the time being, they are turned loose to ' do 

 for themselves', when -they often become very savage, fighting 

 incessantly with each other as they contend for the fish offal below 

 the stages. Woe betide the unfortunate stranger whose nerve fails 



