8 THE LOG OF THE 



ing wind and the sea soon began to go down. The Miguelon Islands 

 are flat on top with cliffs about 400 ft. high. They seem to be cov- 

 ered with grass. Terry reports that he knows a -man, who has a 

 friend, who keeps elephants, who says, that they abound with rab- 

 bits. St. Pierre, on the other hand, is high and uneven with large 

 rough patches of rocks. In contrast to the other two islands it appears 

 not to have been glaciated, at least it is made out of much harder 

 stuff. As we got near the harbor two men put out in a power dory 

 flying a very large flag. They wanted five dollars to act as pilots. 

 John was our spokesman and politely refused their aid in flowing 

 French. As we got near the mouth of the harbor several power boats 

 put out and raced towards us. They were the several local merchants 

 competing to sell us liquor. Their prices were ridiculously cheap 

 (3 to 4 dollars a case for brandy). We anchored near two dirty 

 looking French tramp steamers and an even dirtier looking hospital 

 ship. The harbor is very shallow and the sailing vessels are all tied 

 up together in the back end where they are aground most of the 

 time. I went ashore immediately with the merchant who had been 

 first aboard. By some curious system he had to take me to the 

 Custom House and I paid him some four dollars for light dues and 

 entrance tax. He later pays the government on receipt of a large 

 document. The customs officers were three old French soldiers, all 

 badly wounded and in dirty blue uniforms. One of them could speak 

 a little English. 



After lunch we inspected the shipping which consisted of several 

 French beam-trawlers, about five small vessels with square rigging, 

 two or three coasting schooners, and one lunenberger. They have a 

 large dry dock. A fleet of about twelve small Newfoundland schoon- 

 ers with brown sails fish from here. Tied up to a stone pier we saw - 

 the prize boat of the fleet. She was a French fishing smack of about 

 60 tons. Her sails had been patched and dyed and patched again 

 until there was very little of the original canvas left. She had a 



