548 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1774. 



torn has taught us to give them this appellation, but the most of them are no- 

 thing more than broad brooks, or rivulets. As they are only drains from the 

 ponds, in dry weather they are every where fordable ; for running on a solid 

 rock, they become broad, without having a bed any depth below the surface of 

 the banks. . . 



There is no variety of animals in this rocky country, nor are they at all nu- 

 merous. Here are the rein-deer; the females have horns, which nature has 

 given them to procure food, for with these they beat away the snow in winter, 

 and by that means come at the tops of trees, which, during the inclemency of 

 that season, is their only sustenance. There are bears black and white, wolves, 

 the carkashew, foxes, porcupines a great many, the mountain-cat, martins, 

 beavers, otters, hares, and a few ermine. A venomous reptile or insect, is not 

 to be found here, except toads, and these are extremely rare. The whole coun- 

 try is filled with very small flies, which are exceedingly tormenting. Here are 

 eagles, hawks, the horn-owl, and the red-game, with a smaller sort which re- 

 semble them, called the spruce-partridge: these we may call the constant in- 

 habitants of the feathered kind. Of sea-birds, there are a great variety. 



In the summer the woods are visited with many sorts of little birds, and some 

 of them of beautiful plumage. They breed here, but towards winter they seek 

 a happier climate. In the autumn there come a prodigious quantity of curlews. 

 They are about the size of a woodcock, shaped like them, and nearly of the 

 same colour ; extremely fat, and most delicious eating. They continue here but 

 a very little while, nor is it known whence they come, or whither they go. The 

 principal fish are whales, the cod-fish, and salmon. Of shell-fish, there are but 

 few sorts, and these in no great plenty. Lobsters there are none at all; which 

 is very remarkable, for at a particular part in the Straits of Bellisle, not more 

 than 5 or 6 leagues from Newfoundland, there are great abundance. 



It is not surprizing that such a country as this should be thinly inhabited. 

 The human species upon this extensive territory are but few ; and such as we 

 know of are extremely savage. The people of this country form various nations 

 or tribes; and are at perpetual war with each other. Formerly the Esquimaux, 

 who may be called a maritime nation, were settled at different places on the sea- 

 coast, quite down to the river St. John's; but for many years past, whether it 

 has been owing to their quarrels with the mountaineers, or the encroachments of 

 the Europeans, they have taken up their residence far to the north. A good 

 way up the country are people distinguished by the appellation of mountaineers, 

 between whom and the Esquimaux there subsists an unconquerable aversion. 

 Next to the mountaineers, and still farther westward, is a nation called the 

 Escopics: and beyond them, are the Hudson Bay Indians, with whom the world 

 is but little acquainted. There are doubtless, in such a vast tract of land, a 



