The Forest Resources of the Labrador Peninsula. 35 



bark is tough, resinous, very durable and impervious to water. 

 For the construction of canoes, baskets, drinking cups, and a cov- 

 ering for his wigwam, the Indian finds it simply indispensable. 



The arbor vitae (Thuya occidentalis, Linnaeus), or white 

 cedar, occurs in only a few places between the Rupert and Notto- 

 way Rivers, and south-eastward to the St. Lawrence. It prefers 

 swampy places in which it generally occurs in dense stands. 

 The wood is light, soft, brittle, and rather coarse-grained. The 

 thin sap wood is nearly white, but the heartwood is yellow-brown 

 and quite fragrant. The wood is very durable in contact with 

 the soil, and is much used for posts, poles, ties, rails, shingles, etc. 

 It weighs almost 20 pounds per cubic foot, and has a fuel value of 

 32. The thick layers of sapwood aie easily separated, and are 

 often used to strengthen birch bark canoes or to weave baskets. 

 In the southern region the undergrowth consists mostly of Lab- 

 rador tea {Ledum latifolium) , pale laurel {Kalmia glauca) and 

 blueberries. In damp places there is a considerable depth of 

 sphagnum mosses, but as we go northward it is gradually replaced 

 by white lichens or reindeer mosses which grow^ everywhere 

 throughout the semi-barren and barren regions. Willows and 

 alders fringe the shores of all the lakes and rivers of the forested 

 area. In the semi-barren areas willows and birches creep up the 

 sides of the hills to above the tree line. On the elevated lands 

 beyond the semi-barrens they are only a few^ inches high. 



The forest areas of commercial importance are chiefly con- 

 fined to the southern part of the peninsula, and mostlv to the 

 lower courses of the streams flowing into James Bay and' the At- 

 lantic Ocean. So long as our supplies of pine hold out, spruce 

 cannot compete with it, as pine is the lumber par excellence. The 

 supply of pine is limited, however, and in a very few 3^ears spruce 

 will largely take its place for many kinds of work. Besides this, 

 spruce is an excellent pulpwDod, and is accompanied by consider- 

 able aspen, balsam poplar and balsam fir, all of which make ex- 

 cellent pulp. The Crown Lands De]xirtment of the Province of 

 Quebec estimates that in the Lake St. John district alone (3100 

 square miles) there are a hundred million cords of pulp wood. This 

 figure is based on the extremely low estimate of five cords per 

 acre. If the true average per acre were used, and a calculation 

 made for the total forested area of the peninsula, the result would 

 be beyond all belief. The available raw material is sufficient to 

 provide for an annual output of millions of tons of ]Hilp for an in- 

 definite period. 



Most unfortunately, however, this immense forest hassuftered 

 dreadfully from fire, and in many places the vegetable part of the 

 soil has been so completely burned out that a couple of centuries 

 must elapse before it is fully restocked. Mr. Low states that the 

 fires are of annual occurrence, and occasionallv burn throuti:hout 



