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THE EGGERS OF LABRADOR. 



The distinctive appellation of Eggers is given to certain persons who 

 follow, principally or exclusively, the avocation of procuring the eggs of 

 wild birds, with the view of disposing of them at some distant port. Their 

 great object is to plunder every nest, whenever they can find it, no mat- 

 ter where, and at whatever risk. They are the pest of the feathered 

 tribes, and their brutal propensity to destroy the poor creatures after they 

 have robbed them, is abundantly gratified whenever an opportunity pre- 

 sents itself. 



Much had been said to me respecting these destructive pirates before 

 1 visited the coast of Labrador, but I could not entirely credit all their 

 cruelties until I had actually witnessed their proceedings, which were 

 such as to inspire no small degree of horror. But you shall judge for 

 yourself. 



See yon shallop shyly sailing along ; — she sneaks like a thief, wishing 

 as it were to shun the very light of heaven. Under the lea of every rocky 

 isle some one at the tiller steers her course. Were his trade an honest 

 one, he would not think of hiding his back behind the terrific rocks that 

 seem to have been placed there as a resort to the myriads of birds that 

 annually visit this desolate region of the earth, for the purpose of rearing 

 their young, at a distance from all disturbers of their peace. How unlike 

 the open, the bold, the honest mariner, whose face needs no mask, who 

 scorns to skulk under any circumstances ! The vessel herself is a shabby 



thing: ^her sails are patched with stolen pieces of better canvass, the 



owners of which have probably been stranded on some inhospitable coast, 

 and have been plundered, perhaps murdered, by the wretches before us. 

 Look at her again ! — Her sides are neither painted, nor even pitched ; no 



they are daubed over, plastered and patched with stripes of seal-skins, 



laid along the seams. Her deck has never been washed or sanded, her 

 hold— for no cabin has she, — though at present empty, sends forth an 

 odour pestilential as that of a charnel-house. The crew, eight in number, 

 lie sleeping at the foot of their tottering mast, regardless of the repairs 

 needed in every part of her rigging. But see I she scuds along, and as I 



