The Labrador Peninsula 



the barren and semi-barren lands. On the 

 Atlantic coast they are found as far south as 

 the Mealy Mountains, a high barren range 

 between Hamilton Inlet and Sandwich Bay; 

 to the northward they come out on the coast 

 between Hamilton Inlet and Nain during the 

 winter, and are then killed in great numbers 

 by the inhabitants. During the winter of 

 1895-96 upwards of 5,000 animals were slaugh- 

 tered by the natives about Davis Inlet, and 

 more than half of them were left to decay in 

 the woods without removing even the skins. 

 From information obtained from the northern 

 Indians and my own observations there ap- 

 pear to be three principal bands of the barren- 

 ground caribou in northern Labrador. The 

 first and smallest passes the winter on the 

 coast of Hudson Bay and the immediate inte- 

 rior, passing northward in the summer to the 

 barren lands beyond Clearwater and Seal 

 lakes. The second band comes southward 

 during the fall, and winters in the valleys of 

 the Koksoak and its branches ; the third band 

 is that already referred to as being found on 

 the Atlantic coast. During the summer this 

 band retreats to the highlands to the north- 

 ward of Nain, and in September migrates 



37 



