CHAPTER III. 



ON THE LABRADOR. 



TT must be acknowledged that there is something extraor- 

 JLdinarily attractive about a hunting-ground that is still 

 virgin, especially when it holds out a prospect of illimitable 

 square miles of country and endless possibilities of antici- 

 pation, even if these latter never materialise. 



It was with this most elusive charm about its prac- 

 tically untrodden interior that I set out for the Labrador 

 peninsula in the early autumn of 1903, with the hope of 

 finding out how and where there was a reasonable chance 

 of coming in view of the herds of Barrenland caribou that 

 roam at large through that houseless land. 



Mr. J. G. Millais accompanied me to Newfoundland, 

 intending to go on to the Labrador, but on arriving at St. 

 John's we found to our vexation that the Virginia Lake, the 

 Reid Company's steamer, which at the time plied to the 

 further Labrador ports and has since been lost on that coast, 

 had started for the north and was not expected to return 

 for ten days or a fortnight. Upon learning this Millais 

 decided to shoot in Newfoundland and to give up the fur- 

 ther trip as it was late in the season and it was necessary 

 for him to be back in England by October. As this was not 

 imperative in my case, I determined to carry out my in- 

 tention of reaching Labrador, as, though I had small hope 

 of being able to complete any extended trip before the ice 

 closed, I thought that for any subsequent attempt I might 



