LABRADOR JOURNAL 57 



ineqiiaiities upon the road. Boards of eighteen 

 inches long are set across the upper edges of the 

 sled, three inches asunder, to place the goods upon; 

 and to accommodate the driver and others with a 

 seat. The imder edges are shod with the jaw l)one 

 of a whale, ctit into lengths of two or three feet, 

 half an inch thick; and are fastened on with pegs 

 of the same. This shoeing is dural)le, and makes 

 them slide very gliljly. The woodwork is sewed 

 together with split whalebone. A couple of holes 

 are bored through the fore ends of each plank ; in 

 which are inserted the two ends of a strong, short 

 thong, made out of the hide of a sea-cow,' and 

 secured by a knot; and to the middle part of the 

 thong, a separate one is fastened, from each dog. 

 They make use of any num])er of dogs, as occasion 

 may require: and their thongs are of different 

 lengths; always minding that the dog which is 

 best trained, has the longest. The driver sits fore- 

 most of the company, with a very long thonged 

 whip in his hand; but the handle is short in pro- 

 portion to the whip, being, not more than a foot. 

 The motion of the sled is verv easy, and half a 

 dozen people may travel forty miles a day, without 

 diffif'ulty, if they have fourteen or fifteen dogs 

 yoked. 



MoHrJaif, Vfccmhcr 24, 1770. At sun-set the peo- 



' CartwriRht did not moan tlip mnnator or soa-oow, Mnnntus Inli- 

 ro«<m, which is southpm in il.s distril)ution. Ilf nf<rn-(] to the Atlantic 

 walniH, TrirhrrhiiJi rosmnrus, wliich forinorly p.\t(<n<io<l its ranKf <<> Houthcrn 

 Labrador, and Nova Scotia. It wjls variously known by the early ex- 

 plorers ;ls the sea-cow, .sea-<»x. sea-horse and morse, while Lescarbot say.s 

 that the creatures seen in the Hay of Seven IsiandH were " hippopotami "! 



