80 LABRADOR 



mail steamer makes her last visit. Winter has really 

 arrived. Not a craft left afloat on the coast by the end 

 of the month. Trapping is specially now for foxes and 

 mink on the seaboard. Many settlers on the " outside" 

 are engaged with seal nets. The rest have gone to their 

 homes among the trees at the bottom of the long bays. 



The last of the ducks and geese leave. Hares, rabbits, 

 grouse, etc., assume their winter colouring. Dogs are now 

 fed up for their winter work. Lumbermen are in the 

 woods cutting logs. 



December. The short days tend to make this the most 

 dismal month, but the dog driving begins and the assump- 

 tion of snow-shoes, or "ski," also helps to enliven matters. 

 For sports we now play football on the snow, sail our ice- 

 boats, or go deer hunting. Any game killed now will 

 remain good till June, being hard frozen as soon as killed. 

 All along northern Labrador many seals are being netted. 

 Even the large rivers are now safe to cross on the ice, but 

 in some of the arms of the sea there is still no ice that will 

 bear, owing to the tide. Some of the best furs are now 

 taken in the country. The first dog mail leaves for Quebec 

 at Christmas. 



Such is, approximately, the year's curriculum. 



