THE LABRADOR JOURNAL 



409 



leader starts at the word of command, and tlie whole pack 

 gallops off swiftly enough to convey a man sixty miles in 

 the course of seven or eight hours. They howl like 

 Wolves, and are not at all like our common dogs. They 

 were extremely gentle, came to us, jumped on us, and 

 caressed us, as if we were old acquaintances. They do 

 not take to the water, and are only fitted for drawing 

 sledges and chasing Caribou. They arc the only dogs 

 which at all equal the Caribou in speed. As soon as 

 winter's storms and thick ice close the harbors and the 

 spaces between the mainland and the islands, the Caribous 

 are seen moving in great gangs, first to the islands, where, 

 the snow being more likely to be drifted, the animal finds 

 places where the snow has blown away, and he can more 

 easily reach the moss, which at this season is its only 

 food. As the season increases in severity, the Caribous 

 follow a due northwestern direction, and gradually reach 

 a comparatively milder climate ; but nevertheless, on their 

 return in March and April, which return is as regular as 

 the migration of birds, they are so poor and emaciated 

 that the white man himself takes pity on them, and does 

 not kill them. (Merciful beings, who spare life when the 

 flesh is off the bones, and no market for the bones is 

 at hand.) The Otter is tolerably abundant; these are 

 principally trapped at the foot of the waterfalls to which 

 they resort, these places being the latest to freeze, and the 

 first to thaw. The Marten and the Sable are caught, but 

 are by no means abundant, and every winter makes a 

 deep impression on beast as well as on man. These 

 Frenchmen receive their supplies from Quebec, where they 

 send their furs and oil. At this time, which the man here 

 calls " the idle time," he lolls about his cabin, lies in the 

 sunshine like a Seal, eats, drinks, and sleeps his life away, 

 careless of all the world, and the world, no doubt, careless 

 of him. His dogs are his only companions until his part- 

 ner's return, who, for all I know, is not himself better 



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