212 MY ARCTIC JOURNAL 



Newfoundland dogs, and then proceeded north along the Lab- 

 rador coast, touching at several of the missionary stations, where 

 we -obtained about thirty dogs from the Eskimos. It was a 

 pitiable sight to see how famished these poor Moravian mis- 

 sionaries were for news from the old as well as the new coun- 

 try. They have direct mail communication with Europe only 

 once a year. 



I was told that although they have only three months in 

 the year when frost is out of the ground, yet they all cultivate 

 small gardens, and the most delicious dish of stewed rhubarb 

 that I ever tasted was prepared from a bundle sent to me by 

 one of the missionaries. It was interesting to note that while 

 the appearance of the Labrador Eskimos is very similar to that 

 of the natives of South Greenland, yet their mode of dress 

 is different in both pattern and material. The undershirts, 

 instead of being made of the skins of birds, are made of blan- 

 keting, and instead of being the same length back and front, 

 are fashioned with a long tail ; over this is worn a garment of 

 the same pattern, made of drilling. The trousers are also of 

 woven material. Of course this was their summer costume. 

 The women all wore blanket skirts, and had woolen shawls 

 about their shoulders. 



After following the coast of Labrador for ten days, we 

 headed across Davis Strait for Holsteinborg, on the Green- 

 land shore. It took us about twelve hours to steam through 

 the stream of ice which was flowing southward, but only once 

 did the *' Falcon " have to go astern in order to move a pan of 



