42 THE GEOGRAPHICAL EVOLUTION OF LABRADOR. 



" penguin" of the early explorers. But we will let 

 Cartier describe the scene which met his eyes in his own 

 words translated by Hakluyt from " The first Relation 

 of laques Carthier of S. Malo, of the new land called 

 New France, newlv discovered in the yere of our Lord 



1534-" 



" Vpon the 21 of May the winde being in the West,. 



we hoised saile, and sailed toward North and by East 

 from the Cape of Buona Vista vntil we came to the 

 Island of Birds, which wasenuironed about with a banke 

 of ice but broken and crackt : notwithstanding the sayd 

 banke, our two boats went thither to take in some birds, 

 whereof there is such plenty, that vnlesse a man did see 

 them, he would thinke it an incredible thing : for albeit 

 the Island (which containeth about a league in circuity 

 be so full of them, that they seeme to have bene brought 

 thither, and sowed for the nonce, yet are there an hun- 

 dred folde as many hovering about it as within ; some 

 of the which are as big as iavs, blacke and white, with 

 beaks like vnto crowes ; they lie alwayts vpon the sea : 

 they cannot Hie very high, because their wings are so 

 Httle, and no bigger than halfe ones hand, vet do they 

 flie as swiftly as any birds of the aire leuell to the water ; 

 they are also e.xceeding fat; we named them Aporath. 

 In lesse then halfe an houre we filled two boats full of 

 them, as if they had bene with stones : so that besides 

 them which we did eat fresh, eury ship did powder and 

 salt five or sixe barrels full of them. 



" Besides these, there is another kinde of birds which 

 houer in the aire, and ouer the sea, lesser then the others ; 

 and these doe all gather themselves together in the Isl- 

 and, and put themselves vnder the wings of other birds 



