ON THE LABRADOR. 61 



got every kental dried, and now may be we'll have no sun 

 until we sail " an eventuality which would have meant the 

 loss of several hundred dollars ; but fortunately on this 

 occasion the sun shone brightly, not only on Monday, but 

 even on Tuesday. 



It was already the gth of September when, accompanied 

 by Jack Wells, now one of the best-known Newfoundland 

 guides, but then promoted from a cook to a full-blown guide 

 for the first time, I went aboard the Virginia Lake, sole 

 passengers, and started on a coasting ship's slow passage up 

 the coast. The steamer called at over fifty points before, 

 after two attempts, we finally landed, during a half -gale from 

 the south-east, at Fanny's Harbour. 



We had no sooner gone ashore than my medical know- 

 ledge was requisitioned for the cook of the fishing-station, 

 whose hand had been poisoned by a cod bone and whose arm 

 was frightfully swollen. As, however, there was a Govern- 

 ment doctor on board the Virginia Lake, and the ship would 

 call at Fanny's Harbour on her return trip, my medical skill 

 was only tested to the extent of a poultice and bandaging, 

 which was doubtless a lucky thing for the cook. A couple 

 of days later, as Jack Wells and I were returning from 

 shooting, a loud and dolorous cry was accounted for by 

 the information that the mail-boat doctor was " putting 

 cook to rights." 



Fanny's Harbour is an island settlement, and as the 

 " livyere " who carries the mail across to the mainland had, 

 for some unexplained reason, departed on the day previous 

 to the arrival of the Virginia Lake, we were in a sense 

 marooned upon the island, where, however, we added to 

 the provision list by shooting an Arctic hare and a brace 

 of ducks. 



The gale held for two days before, weary of waiting, I 

 at length prevailed upon the head of the settlement, Capt. 

 Tom Spracklin, to lend me a trap-boat with a crew to row 



