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THE SQUAiTTERS OF LABRADOR 



Go where you will, if a shilling can there be procured, you may ex- 

 pect to meet with individuals in search of it. 



In the course of last summer, I met with several persons as well as 

 families, whom I could not compare to any thing else than what in 

 America we imderstand by the appellation of Squatters. The methods 

 they employed to accumulate property form the subject of the observa- 

 tions which I now lay before you. 



Our schooner lay at anchor in a beautiful basin on the coast of La- 

 brador, surrounded by uncouth granitic rocks, partially covered with 

 stunted vegetation. While searching for birds and other objects I chanced 

 one morning to direct my eye towards the pinnacle of a small island, se- 

 parated from the mainland by a very narrow channel, and presently 

 commenced inspecting it with my telescope. There I saw a man on his 

 knees, with clasped hands, and face inclined heavenwards. Before him 

 was a small monument of unhewn stones, supporting a wooden cross. In 

 a word, reader, the person whom I thus unexpectedly discovered, was 

 engaged in prayer. Such an incident in that desolate land was affecting, 

 for there one seldom finds traces of human beings, and the aid of the Al- 

 mighty, although necessary everywhere, seems there peculiarly required 

 to enable them to procure the means of subsistence. My curiosity having 

 been raised, I betook myself to my boat, landed on the rock, and scrambled 

 to the place, where I found the man still on his knees. When his devotions 

 were concluded, he bowed to me, and addressed me in very indifferent 

 French. I asked him why he had chosen so dreary a spot for his prayers. 

 " Because,"" answered he, " the sea lies before me, and from it I receive 

 my spring and summer sustenance. When winter approaches, I pray 

 fronting the mountains on the Main, as at that period the karaboos come 

 towards the shore, and I kill them, feed on their flesh, and form my bed- 

 ding of their skins." I thought the answer reasonable, and as I longed 

 to know more of him, followed him to his hut. It was low and very 

 small, formed of stones plastered with mud to a considerable thickness, 

 The roof was composed of a sort of thatching made of weeds and moss. 

 A large Dutch stove filled nearly one-half of the place, a small port-hole, 

 then stuffed with old rags, served at times instead of a window ; the bed 



