OUR VOYAGE CONTINUED 125 



darkness. Landing, and following closely behind him 

 over broken rock for some quarter mile, brought me 

 to his cottage, which, in true Labrador fashion, was 

 well filled with inhabitants. Among them I found 

 two seriously ill, one a young man of eighteen, the 

 other a young married woman of about thirty. On 

 this poor woman it was necessary to operate on our 

 way south in order to save life even for the time; 

 but as we had no hospital open in winter, she had 

 to be left in that crowded hut to the tender mercies 

 of the most unskilled of nurses, and though any 

 communication with the island has been impossible 

 since, I fear she will not have survived the winter. 1 

 I was one day asked, a little further north, to visit 

 a woman reported to have been ill in bed for three 

 months, and who was living up a bay fully ten 

 miles from any fishing station. At length, dropping 

 our anchor off the spot indicated, which was the 

 mouth of a large salmon river, we blew our whistle 

 repeatedly to try and attract her husband's atten- 

 tion. After some time a small boat put out with 

 one man sculling in the stern. He seemed to ap- 

 proach warily, and the man piloting me took in the 

 situation in a moment. As soon as the small boat 

 was alongside, he greeted the oarsman with " It's all 

 up ; come aboard and surrender quietly, or you will 

 be shot down." The condemning reply came back, 

 " Indeed, sir, the river isn't barred. It couldn't be 



1 1895. She has perfectly recovered, in the most marvellous manner. 

 W. T. G. 



