A LABRADOR SPRING 
were said to have pursued them at one time 
as far as the Natashquan River. With the 
Eskimos, whom the Indians always hated and 
despised and with whom they do not inter- 
marry, they were formerly always at war. 
While the Eskimos in the time of Jacques 
Cartier inhabited the whole of the eastern and 
even some of the southern coast, probably as 
far west as the Eskimo River, they are now 
not found south of Hamilton Inlet, or Es- 
quimaux Bay as it was formerly called. Even 
as late as the time of Cartwright, in the latter 
part of the 18th century, the Eskimos came as 
far south as the region about the Straits of 
Belle Isle. Armed with guns procured from 
the French, the Indians, although terrified by 
the Iroquois, were able to strike terror in turn 
into the hearts of the Eskimos who fell back 
before their onslaughts and deserted this 
southern region. Battle Harbour is said to 
have received its name from one of the last 
battles fought by these two aboriginal races. 
This could hardly have been the case, however, 
for Cartwright mentions the name Battle 
Harbour in his Journal, although he does not 
allude to any fight there between the two races, 
152 
