80 LABRADOR 
mail steamer makes her last visit. Winter has really 
arrived. Not a craft left afloat on the coast by the end 
of the month. Trapping is specially now for foxes and 
mink on the seaboard. Many settlers on the ‘“ outside” 
are engaged with seal nets. The rest have gone to their 
homes among the trees at the bottom of the long bays. 
The last of the ducks and geese leave. Hares, rabbits, 
grouse, etc., assume their winter colouring. Dogs are now 
fed up for their winter work. Lumbermen are in the 
woods cutting logs. 
December. The short days tend to make this the most 
dismal month, but the dog driving begins and the assump- 
tion of snow-shoes, or ‘‘ski,” also helps to enliven matters. 
For sports we now play football on the snow, sail our ice- 
boats, or go deer hunting. Any game killed now will 
remain good till June, being hard frozen as soon as killed. 
All along northern Labrador many seals are being netted. 
Even the large rivers are now safe to cross on the ice, but 
in some of the arms of the sea there is still no ice that will 
bear, owing to the tide. Some of the best furs are now 
taken in the country.. The first dog mail leaves for Quebec 
at Christmas. 
Such is, approximately, the year’s curriculum. 
