THE PEOPLE OF THE COAST 181 
The Hudson’s Bay Company has long shared the fur- 
trade of the northeast coast with the Moravian Mission 
stations. The older of these two companies has a station 
in Davis Inlet, one of the most beautiful spots in eastern 
Labrador. The well-wooded sides of the inlet, the steeply 
rolling hills, the narrow, deep fiords branching away in many 
directions, the peace of the seldom ruffled waters, and the 
number and variety of the sea-birds inhabiting the bays 
during the summer, all lend Davis Inlet a kind of beauty 
unrivalled on the outer coast. Here the largest trade with 
the Montagnais Indians is pursued. Every winter and 
summer a band comes out with furs, deerskins, and parch- 
ment. A trifling reward is given by the company to any 
settler meeting the band and piloting them in his boat to 
the station. There they generally stay a few days barter- 
ing their “hunt” for ammunition, tobacco, and coloured 
handkerchiefs and cloths. There is some trade here also 
with Eskimo and half-breeds in salt trout and salmon. 
The head post of the Hudson’s Bay Company is Rigolet 
in Hamilton Inlet, and from that place all orders are issued, 
all goods exported, and to and from that port their annual 
steamer plies, bringing the goods from London and carry- 
ing back the furs in the fall. She arrives generally in mid- 
July, coming out under sail and steam to economize fuel. 
She proceeds north to Ungava and to the bottom of Hud- 
son Bay, returning to pick up the summer’s catch of sal- 
mon with the furs of the preceding winter. The name of 
her captain, rendered famous in Labrador by his innumer- 
able voyages safely accomplished, will be perpetuated in 
the channel through which he always passes on his way 
around Cape Chidley. It has been christened Gray Straits 
in his honour. 
