THE PEOPLE OF THE COAST 181 



The Hudson's Bay Company has long shared the fur- 

 trade of the northeast coast with the Moravian Mission 

 stations. The older of these two companies has a station 

 in Davis Inlet, one of the most beautiful spots in eastern 

 Labrador. The well-wooded sides of the inlet, the steeply 

 rolling hills, the narrow, deep fiords branching away in many 

 directions, the peace of the seldom ruffled waters, and the 

 number and variety of the sea-birds inhabiting the bays 

 during the summer, all lend Davis Inlet a kind of beauty 

 unrivalled on the outer coast. Here the largest trade with 

 the Montagnais Indians is pursued. Every winter and 

 summer a band comes out with furs, deerskins, and parch- 

 ment. A trifling reward is given by the company to any 

 settler meeting the band and piloting them in his boat to 

 the station. There they generally stay a few days barter- 

 ing their "hunt" for ammunition, tobacco, and coloured 

 handkerchiefs and cloths. There is some trade here also 

 with Eskimo and half-breeds in salt trout and salmon. 

 The head post of the Hudson's Bay Company is Rigolet 

 in Hamilton Inlet, and from that place all orders are issued, 

 all goods exported, and to and from that port their annual 

 steamer plies, bringing the goods from London and carry- 

 ing back the furs in the fall. She arrives generally in mid- 

 July, coming out under sail and steam to economize fuel. 

 She proceeds north to Ungava and to the bottom of Hud- 

 son Bay, returning to pick up the summer's catch of sal- 

 mon with the furs of the preceding winter. The name of 

 her captain, rendered famous in Labrador by his innumer- 

 able voyages safely accomplished, will be perpetuated in 

 the channel through which he always passes on his way 

 around Cape Chidley. It has been christened Gray Straits 

 in his honour. 



