ON THE LABRADOR. 61 



In the summer time the ordinary Labrador livyere 

 does not trouble himself overmuch with the problem of 

 dog food. If he happens to catch a fish unfit for human 

 consumption he carries it home for the dogs ; if not, the 

 animals are left unfed and support themselves by theft 

 or by long hunting expeditions. On one occasion I 

 nearly added a husky to my bag. I came upon him 

 among the spruces some miles inland, and had already 

 thrown the rifle to my shoulder when I recognised that 

 the creature slinking through the shadows was not a 

 wolf, but a dog. 



Summer is the hard season for the husky, his owner 

 probably thinking that as he does no work at that time 

 he needs no food ; but as soon as the snow comes and 

 the komatiks or sledges appear the lot of the husky under- 

 goes a change. He is then fed and looked after as 

 much as he needs, and the latter at least more than he 

 likes. He is the outward and visible sign of the pros- 

 perity and status of his owner. A man possessing four 

 dogs is poor, eight makes him well-to-do, while a livyere 

 who can count upon sixteen has attained the dignity of 

 a very solid yeoman of the Labrador. 



But the huskies have taken us far from our theme. 

 Mrs. Broomfield told us that her husband and son were 

 in summer quarters at the end of the bay, so after a 

 most grateful cup of tea we once more manned our trap- 

 boat and pursued our way between the indrawing shores. 

 Rather more than a couple of hours brought us within sight 

 of our destination and of two men in green flat-bottomed 

 boats, who were seal-hunting at the mouth of a river. 

 These proved to be Broomfield and his son, and they 

 rowed out to meet us, so that very soon we were all on 

 shore collected round a fire. The same evening our 



