LABRADOR. 585 



pea-jacket of blanket. Our boots were large, round-toed, strong, and 

 well studded with large nails to prevent sliding on the rocks. Worsted 

 comforters, thick mittens, and round broad-brimmed hats, completed our 

 dress, which was more picturesque than fashionable. As soon as we had 

 an opportunity, the boots were exchanged for Esquimaux mounted mo- 

 cassins of seal-skin, impermeable to water, light, easy, and fastening at top 

 about the middle of the thigh to straps, which when buckled over the hips 

 secured them well. To complete our equipment, we had several good 

 boats, one of which was extremely light and adapted for shallow water. 



No sooner had we reached the coast and got into harbour, than we 

 agreed to follow certain regulations intended for the general benefit. 

 Every morning the cook was called before three o'clock. At half-past 

 three, breakfast was on the table, and every body equipt. The guns, 

 ammunition, botanical boxes, and baskets for eggs or minerals, were all 

 in readiness. Our breakfast consisted of coffee, bread, and various other 

 materials. At four, all except the cook and one seaman, went off" in dif- 

 ferent directions, not forgetting to carry with them a store of cooked provi- 

 sions. Some betook themselves to the islands, others to the deep bays ; 

 the latter on landing wandered over the country, until noon, when laying 

 themselves down on the rich moss, or sitting on the granite rock, they 

 would rest for an hour, eat their dinner, and talk of their successes or 

 disappointments. I often regret that I did not take sketches of the curi- 

 ous groups formed by my young friends on such occasions, and when, af- 

 ter returning at night, all were engaged in measuring, weighing, compar- 

 ing and dissecting the birds we had procured, operations which were car- 

 ried on with the aid of a number of candles thrust into the necks of bot- 

 tles. Here one examined the flowers and leaves of a plant, there another 

 explored the recesses of a diver's gullet, while a third skinned a gull or a 

 grous. Nor was our journal forgotten. Arrangements were made for 

 the morrow, and at twelve we left matters to the mangement of the cook, 

 and retired to our roosts. 



If the wind blew hard, all went on shore, and, excepting on a few re- 

 markably rainy days, we continued our pursuits much in the same man- 

 ner during our stay in the counti-y. The physical powers of the young 

 men were considered in making our arrangements. Shattuck and In- 

 GALS went together ; the Captain and Cooledge were fond of each other, 

 the latter having also been an officer ; Lincoln and my son being the 

 strongest and most determined hunters, generally marched by themselves ; 



