PREFACE 



Before mv first visit to Labrador in the sum- 

 mer of 1906, I came upon the Journal of Captain 

 George Cartwright, published in Newark, Eng- 

 land, in 1792, detailing his experiences during a 

 residence of nearly sixteen years on that inhos- 

 pitable but interesting coast. I found it to be a 

 mine of valuable information and acute observa- 

 tions on many subjects connected with Labrador 

 and Lalirador life and adventure, including ac- 

 counts of the birds and beasts that he hunted and 

 trapped, and of the people, both Eskimo and In- 

 dian, all told with a fidelity to truth that cannot 

 be doubted. 



Cartwright 's tact and judgment in dealing with 

 the Eskimos, Avho had formerly been negotiated 

 by the Europeans only at the musket's mouth, and 

 his uniform justice in his treatment of them, to- 

 gether with his interesting account of their cus- 

 toms and of their behaviour both in Tjabrador and 

 at the coui-t of King George the Tliird, are all 

 admii'ablc. 



His account of the habits of polar bears and 

 beavers studied under exceptionally favoura])lo 

 circumstances, his obsen-ations on the caribou, 

 on wolves, otters, wolverines and other fur-bear- 

 ers, and oTi many species of water-birds, inclndinc: 



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