ON THE LABRADOR. 59 



it became obvious that we should not be able to make 

 Davis Inlet before dark, and, as no one aboard had a 

 pilot's knowledge of any portion of the coast save the 

 rocks and reefs of Fanny's Harbour, the helm was 

 perforce put over and we headed for Jack Lane's Bay, 

 a deep creek upwards of a dozen miles long, on the 

 north side of which, I was told, there dwelt an old 

 trapper named Sam Broomfield, who had killed some 

 deer the previous year. 



At first upon both sides of the inlet the shores were 

 flat and treeless, but as mile joined mile in our wake, 

 patches of hardy conifers became more and more 

 frequent. Several flocks of yellow-shanks, locally 

 known as " twiUigs," haunted these flat shores in 

 some numbers, and one or two that flew over the boat 

 were saluted with a Paradox shot-gun. Ultimately 

 three twilligs and a red-breasted merganser made up 

 the bag. Just before we came in sight of Broomfield's 

 house an exceedingly wild seal, of the species known as 

 harbour seal, or bay seal, an animal identical with our 

 common seal, Phoca vitulina, showed at a distance of 

 about three hundred yards, but having evidently had 

 some former experience of boats, it dived immediately, 

 only to reappear some ten minutes later in mid- 

 estuary. 



As a matter of fact, seals are wilder about Labrador 

 than in any waters I have visited, excepting only the 

 Froien off the coast of Norway, a group of bare islands 

 almost cut by the Arctic circle. Of course, the reason 

 of the wariness of the seals in Labrador fiords is not 

 far to seek. The skin, flesh, and blubber form very 

 important assets in the lives of the shore-dwellers. 

 Boots made of sealskin are the universal foot-gear, and 



