AUDUBON AND BOONE. 133 



malnder. Large jars were filling apace with the bodies of 

 rare birds, fishes, quadrupeds and reptiles, as well as mollus- 

 cous animals. We had several pets too, Gulls, Cormorants, 

 Guillemots, Puffins, Hawks and a Raven. In some of the 

 harbors, curious fishes were hooked in our sight, so clear was 

 the water. 



We found that camping out at night was extremely un- 

 comfortable, on account of the annoyance caused by flies and 

 musquitoes, which attacked the hunters in swarms at all times, 

 but more especially when they lay down, unless they enveloped 

 themselves in thick smoke, which is not much more pleasant. 

 Once when camping, the weather became very bad, and the 

 party was twenty miles distant from Whapatiguan as night 

 threw her mantle over the earth. The rain fell in torrents, 

 the north-east wind blew furiously, and the air was extremely 

 cold. The oars of the boat were fixed so as to support some 

 blankets, and a small fire was with difficulty kindled, on the 

 embers of which a scanty meal was cooked. How different 

 from a camp on the shores of the Mississippi, where wood is 

 abundant, and the air generally not lacking heat, where mus- 

 quitoes, though plentiful enough, are not accompanied by 

 carraboo flies, and where the barkings of a joyful squirrel, or 

 the notes of the Barred Owl, that grave buffoon of our western 

 woods, never fail to gladden the camper as he cuts to the right 

 and left such branches and canes as most easily supply mate- 

 rials for forming a lodging for the night ! On the coast of 

 Labrador there are no such things ; granite and green moss 

 are spread around, silence like that of the grave envelopes 

 all, and when night has closed the dreary scene from your 

 sight, the wolves, attracted by the scent of the remains of 

 your scanty repast, gather around you. Cowards as they 

 are, they dare not venture on a charge ; but their bowlings 

 effectually banish sleep. You must almost roast your feet 

 to keep them warm, while your head and shoulders are chilled 

 by the blast. When morning comes, she smiles net on you with 



