124 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 



and retired. All of a sudden there arose a sound like the 

 stampede of a herd of frightened cattle, and as it proceeded 

 from a house in the dim distance, we knew that here must be 

 the dance, and so made for it. After scaling rocks and crawling 

 up and down wet and mossy side-hills, we at length found 

 ourselves directly under the house, which was built on piles, 

 and by crawling through a hole in the floor we made our en- 

 trance into one corner of the ball-room. This novel mode 

 of entering did not appear to occasion any surprise, and 

 indeed we were lucky to enter thus unharmed among the 

 agile and vigorous dancers; for the floor creaked and groaned, 

 and the entire house appeared to rock and sway, with the sur- 

 prising vigor of the dance. The men wore heavy-soled 

 boots, and every now and then as they jigged about they 

 would whirl their fair partners fairly off their feet. It was a 

 native Labrador dance a combination of a round and square 

 dance and the most uproarious and deafening, in its effects 

 upon the hearing, of any that I have ever attended, though 

 we had some lively dances among the Eskimos. The orchestra 

 was composed of a fiddler and a performer on a mouth-organ 

 who blew loudly, fiercely, and somewhat independently of 

 his coadjutor. The room was bare of any furniture, and a 

 few lanterns hung from the ceiling ; there were only three or 

 four of the fair sex present, and these, of course, were in great 

 demand. The room was mainly filled with sailors, fisher- 

 men, and tobacco smoke a very motley group indeed ; but 

 as neither dance nor music varied much, we soon grew tired 

 and made our way back to the schooner. 



Next morning, September 2, the breeze was fair at last 

 and we got off at about six o'clock. Shortly after our start 

 we counted about twenty icebergs within sight. All day long 

 the breeze freshened, until by night we had a regular gale, and 

 for several hours we were obliged to lay to under a triple- 

 reefed forsesail and forestay sail. The hatchways had to be 



