78 LIFE AND NATURE IN SOUTHERN LABRADOR. 



to light by vigorous dashes of water drawn in over the 

 side of the boat. Those days of dredging on the La,b- 

 rador coast, where there was such an abundance and 

 luxuriance of arctic varieties, were days never to be for- 

 gotten. There is a nameless charm, to our mind, in 

 everything pertaining to the far north, the arctic world, 

 and we can easily appreciate the fascination which leads 

 one back again to the polar regions, even if hunger and 

 frost had once threatened life. Arctic exploration has 

 but begun, and though its victims will yet be numbered 

 by the score, enthusiasts will still attempt the dangers of 

 arctic navigation, and fresh trophies will yet be won. 



Early in August, during the few still clear nights suc- 

 ceeding bright and pleasant days, we had auroras of 

 wondrous beauty, not excelled by any depicted by arctic 

 voyagers. 



On the loth of August the curlews appeared in great 

 numbers. On that day we saw a flock which may have 

 been a mile long and nearly as broad ; there must have 

 been in that flock four or five thousand ! The sum total 

 of their notes sounded at times like the wind whistling 

 through the ropes of a thousand-ton vessel ; at others 

 the sound seemed like the jingling of multitudes of sleigh- 

 bells. The flock soon after appearing would subdivide 

 into squadrons and smaller assemblies, scattering over 

 the island and feeding on the curlew-berries now ripe. 

 The small plover-like birds also appeared in flocks. The 

 cloud-berry was now ripe and supplied dainty tid-bits to 

 these birds. 



By the i8th of the month the golden rods were in 

 flower. Here, as has been noticed in arctic regions, few 

 bees and wasps visit the flowers ; the great majority of 



