Cape Chidley — Port Burwell. 65 



much higher. There is apparently a good passage between South 

 and West Button Islands. The detached island to the westward of 

 West Button Island, one mile, is round and cliffy, about one hundred 

 feet high. 



Grey Strait is the passage between Cape Chidley and the 

 Button Islands. It is apparently clear of shoals. The Neptune 

 steamed through it on both the outward and the homeward voyages. 

 The narrowest part of the eastern entrance is about four miles wide. 

 The flood and ebb streams in the Strait are of nearly equal duration 

 and strength, the former running into and the latter out of Ungava 

 Bay. The velocity is about six knots an hour, off the cape. There 

 is considerable race ; and, where the stream is opposed by strong 

 winds, a breaking sea is formed, which is dangerous to very small 

 vessels. During strong westerly winds in Ungava Bay, the squalls 

 in Grey Strait are severe. 



I must now mention something about the Eskimo Chief Kiur- 

 chur, his two wives and large family, who reside in the summer 

 season on one of the islands at the extreme northern point of Cape 

 Chidley. He is a man of over fifty, of the usual high cheek- 

 bones, black hair and eyes, and insufficient beard. He wears a great 

 cap of bright red cloth, decorated with beads and precious stones, 

 polished from pieces of latrobite and labradorite, and other gems 

 indigenous to that rock-bound coast, and is otherwise attractively 

 clad. His cap is stuffed with the down from many ducks, until its 

 diameter will measure twenty inches. He has put away skins, 

 except for the severity of winter, and wears a sort of common cloth 

 of European manufacture, procured, no doubt, at Fort Chimo. He 

 has plenty of dogs, and, as a mark of royalty, his private koamatik 

 is covered with reindeer skin and is drawn by ten dogs. He keeps 

 two servants, a man and woman, who are married. These two do 

 all the drudgery of the family, the younger of whom are indulged 

 in idleness. Chiefs and their families used to be supported by 

 frequent contributions from their subjects — and in this respect they 

 are not unlike civilized chiefs ; but now that the Eskimo population 

 has become so small in this Utterick's district, the older members of 

 his family are compelled to work for their living. His two wives 



