A LABRADOR SPRING 
ance of the government physician, Dr. Trem- 
blay, we were put in touch with two good men, 
Mathias and Martial, owners of a fishing-boat, 
with whom we proposed to cruise along the coast 
to the eastward, stopping wherever we wished 
and exploring all places of interest. The boat 
was like all the fishing-boats of that shore, 
staunch and seaworthy, thirty feet long and 
pointed at the ends like a canoe or ancient 
caravel. I suppose its model dated back to 
European ones, although an evolution from the 
Indian canoe at once struck my fancy. The 
birch canoe of the Indians in this region has 
been replaced by them with one of the same 
model but covered with painted canvas. The 
ease with which canvas can be obtained as com- 
pared with birch bark of the proper size, its 
lightness and strength and resistance to injury, 
has endeared the canvas canoes to the Indian, 
as well as to the white. The next step in the 
evolution is the wooden canoe, a stauncher and 
stronger boat and useful on the sea, one that 
is propelled both by oars and paddles. From 
that to the strong canoe-shaped rowing boats 
used as tenders by the fishermen here seems 
also a simple step, while the large sailing boat 
104 
