152 Report of the Brown-Harvard Expedition. 



more often there are only a few scattered houses, or, still 

 further north, entirely isolated homes. 



Their character is well depicted by Low {loc. cit., p. 

 44 L), as follows : "In spite of lack of educational advan- 

 tages, nearly everybody can read and write, and all are very 

 religious. As alcoholic liquors are not openly sold on the 

 Labrador coast, cases of intoxication are exceedingly rare, 

 and many of the younger people do not know the taste of 

 alcohol. On the whole, these people compare favorably 

 with those of more civilized regions, being frugal, moral, 

 willing, good-tempered, and naturally intelligent. Their 

 only fault, want of thrift and providence, is largely due to 

 their mode of living, absence from any market of competitive 

 labor, and the system of credit and debt under which they 

 live." 



In the spring and summer this sparse population has a 

 large accession owing to the temporary presence of a host 

 of fishermen from Newfoundland in search of seals or cod. 

 The census of 1891 gave their number as over 13,000, in- 

 cluding the women and children who go with them. A large 

 proportion of these, however, were on the gulf shore. In the 

 spring time, March and April, they go in large steamers for 

 the capture of seals on the ice ; in the summer they are there 

 in their schooners or in rude shelters on the land for cod; 

 and in the early fall they secure herring. Very few of those 

 who go down the Atlantic shore ever get beyond Nain or 

 Port Manvers. One venturesome man alone maintains a 

 fishing station at Cape Chidley all the year round, and goes 

 to it every summer in his steamer. These Newfoundlanders 

 are almost exclusively of English descent, with a queer, old- 

 time flavor to their speech, with an almost fanatic formal 



