BRAS D'OR HARBOUR. 281 



forty-seven iniles.distant. When two-thirds of the distance had 

 been gone over the wind failed us; calms were followed by- 

 severe squalls, and a tremendous sea rolled, which threatened 

 to shake our masts out. At eight o'clock, however, we came 

 abreast of the settlement, but as our pilot knew nothing of the 

 harbour, the captain thought it prudent to stand off, and proceed 

 on to Bras d'Or. The coast here, like all that we have seen 

 before, was dotted with rocky islands of all sizes and forms, and 

 against which the raging waves dashed in a frightful manner, 

 making us shudder at the thought of the fate of the wretched 

 mariners who might be thrown on them. 



" July 27. At daylight this morning we found ourselves at the 

 mouth of Bras d'Or Harbour, where we are now snugly moored. 

 We hoisted our colours, and Captain BiUings, of American 

 Harbour, came to us in his Hampton boat, and piloted us in. 

 This Bras d'Or is the grand rendezvous of almost all the fisher- 

 men, that resort to this coast for cod-fish ; and we found here a 

 flotilla of one hundred and fifty sails, principally fore-and-aft 

 schooners, and mostly from Halifax and the eastern parts of 

 the United States. 



" There was a life and -bustle in the harbour which surprised 

 us, after so many weeks of wilderness and loneliness along the 

 rocky coast. Boats were moving to and fro over the whole bay, 

 going after fish, and returning loaded to the gunwale ; some 

 with seines, others with caplings, for bait, and a hundred or 

 more anchored out about a mile from us, hauling the poor cod- 

 fish by thousands, and hundreds of men engaged in cleaning 

 and salting them, and enlivening their work with Billingsgate 

 slang, and stories, and songs. 



" As soon as breakfast was over we went ashore, and called on 

 Mr. Jones, the owner of the seal-fishing establishment here, a 

 rough, brown-looking Nova-Scotia man, who received us well, 

 and gave us considerable information respecting the birds which 

 visit his neighbourhood. This man has forty Esquimaux dogs, 

 and he entertained us with an account of his travels with them 

 in winter. They are harnessed with a leather collar, belly and 

 back bands, through the upper part of which the line of seal- 

 skin passes which is attached to the sledge, and it serves the 

 double purpose of a rein and trace to draw with. An odd 



