LAB 



486 



LAC 



Ltbrador. f o re the approach of winter. The curlews are extreme- 

 ""-/"-' ly abundant, and well grown, and excellent for eating. 

 The sen fowl are remarkably numerous, especially in 

 the little islands which lie along the eastern coast. The 

 most prevailing kinds of fish on the coast, are whales, 

 cod, and salmon, with a very few shell fish. There are 

 no venomous insects or reptiles in the country ; but the 

 myriads of small flies in the wanner months are ex- 

 ceedingly tormenting 



Native* Labrador is very thinly inhabited, and the natives 



are a miserable and diminutive race. They consist of 

 various tribes, who are perpetually at war with each 

 other: and may be divided into two general classes; 

 the mountaineers, who inhabit the inland districts ; and 

 the Esquimaux, who occupy the sea coasts. The for- 

 mer resemble greatly the Hudson's Bay Indians ; and 

 those of them who frequent the southern parts of La- 

 brador, carry on a regular intercourse with the Cana- 

 dian traders. They are of a low stature, and have very 

 small limbs ; but are of a robust constitution, and ca- 

 pable of enduring the greatest fatigues in travelling. 

 They travel chiefly by means of canoes, covered with 

 the rind of birch, which are sufficiently large to con- 

 tain a whole family, with their articles of traffic, and 

 yet so light as to be easily carried on their shoulders. 

 In consequence of the multitude of large ponds in the 

 country, they contrive to go the greater part of the way 

 by water, and, when these lakes fall out of their course, 

 they place the canoe on their heads, and proceed over 

 land till they meet with another opportunity of em- 

 barking. Their chief occupations consist in hunting 

 rein-deer, catching seals, and collecting furs. These 

 last articles they bring to the Canadian traders, and 

 have the character of being just dealers, and good-na- 

 tured people. They barter their commodities for blan- 

 keting, fire arms, ammunition, and spirits, of which 

 last article they are immoderately fond. Some of them 

 have been visited by the Roman Catholic missionaries ; 

 and still retain an attachment to the priests of the Ca- 

 nadian church. 



Esquimaux. The Esquimaux were formerly settled at different 

 places on the coast, almost as far down as the river of 

 St. John's ; but, in consequence of their quarrels with 

 the mountaineers, who are their inveterate enemies, or 

 of the encroachments of the Europeans, they have re- 

 moved their habitations far to the north. They are of 

 small stature, and of a lighter colour than the other na- 

 tives. They bear a near resemblance to the Green- 

 landers, in their persons, language, and customs ; and 

 are considered as having emigrated from the opposite 

 coast of Davis' Straits. They have flat countenances, 

 short noses, black coarse hair, and remarkably small 

 hands and feet. They differ from the more inland na- 

 tives, in having beards, whereas these other tribes have 

 no hair on any part of their bodies except the head. 

 Their food consists chiefly in the flesh of seal, rein-deer, 

 and fish, which, till very lately, they used to eat altoge- 

 ther raw, and sometimes in a putrid state. Their dress 

 is made entirely of skins, (except a little blanketing 

 which they may have procured in traffic, ) and consists 

 of a hooded. close shirt, breeches, stockings, and boots, 

 generally worn at least in cold weather, with the hairy 

 side inwards. The women are clothed exactly like 

 the_men, except that they wear larger boots, and have 

 their upper garment ornamented with a tail, while their 

 heads are loaded with strings of beads, or surrounded 

 with a hoop of glittering brass like a coronet. Their 

 houses in winter, resemble caverns sunk in the earth, 

 and consist only of one apartment, which, though not 



very large, generally contains several brothers, or other Labrador, 

 relatives, with their wives and children. In summer, ~~~y~~~' 

 they dwell in tents of a circular form, constructed of Ksquioianj 

 poles, and covered with skins st wed together ; and 

 which they are continually moving from place to place. 

 They have always a great number of dogs about their 

 camp, which serve to guard the habitation, and to draw 

 the sledges ; or are occasionally used as food, and their 

 skins made into clothing. These animals are larger 

 than the dogs of the mountaineers, and have a head 

 very like to that of the fox. They are incapable of 

 barking, but utter a hideous kind of howl. The wea- 

 pons of these Esquimaux, are the javelin, bow, and ar- 

 row, in the use of which they are said to be by no means 

 expert, though they have no other means of defending 

 themselves, and of procuring their subsistence. They 

 all practise polygamy, but their families are not gene- 

 rally numerous. The. wives live together very harmo- 

 niously, and have all the labour to perform, except pro- 

 curing food. They are continually at work, and sew 

 very neatly with the sinews of rein-deer. The hus- 

 bands are strangers to jealousy, and very readily lend 

 one of their wives to a friend, like any other article of 

 property. They have no government or laws ; and no 

 other punishment for the most detestable crimes than 

 general censure. No man is held superior to another, 

 except in as far as he excels in strength or courage, or 

 in the number of his family. They are a harmless 

 people, not apt to steal from one another, or to give 

 way to violent anger ; but are sufficiently harsh to the 

 poor women, when they happen to give any offence. 

 They are dexterous in the management of their canoes, 

 which they steer along the coast with wonderful exact- 

 ness in the thickest fogs, without any aid from a com- 

 pass. They must be ranked at the same time in the 

 lowest scale of intellect, and are said to have no name 

 for a number beyond twenty-one. 



The Moravian missionaries, since the year 1764, 

 have been endeavouring, with wonderful perseverance, 

 to bring those rude tribes to the habits of a civilized life, 

 and the duties ot the Christian religion. They have at 

 length succeeded in forming three settlements on the 

 coast of Labrador, namely Nain, Okkak, and Hopedale, 

 which employ 25 missionaries, and contain altogether 

 about 600 inhabitants, of whom above one-half belong 

 to the congregations. The christianized Esquimaux are 

 said to have been taught to sing with great softness and 

 melody in their public devotions; and to read in their own 

 language, those parts of the scriptures which have been 

 translated for their use. See Particulars of the Coun- 

 try of Labrador, from the Papers of Lieutenant Roger 

 Curtis, in the Philosophical Transactions, London, vol. 

 Ixiv. ; Cartwright's Journal, (q) 



LABYRINTH is the name of an ancient edifice 

 built in such a manner, that any person who had once 

 entered it, could not again find his way to tlie entrance. 

 The few celebrated labyrinths were those of Crete,. 

 Egypt, Lemnos, and Italy. See the Travels of Ana- 

 charsis, vol. iv. p. -441; and Pocoke's History of the 

 East, vol. i. p. 6. 



LAC, or LACCA, is a substance prepared by the fe- 

 male of a small insect called the Coccus Lacca, which is 

 found on several trees in the East Indies. 



It is found chiefly in the- uncultivated mountain- on 

 both sides of the Ganges, and it is also produced in 

 Pegu, and in other countries to the east. This substance 

 is divided into four kinds, stick-lac, seed-lac, lump- 

 lac, and shell-lac, which have already been described in 

 our articles CHEMISTRY and DYEING. The best stick- 



