lOO A summer's cruise to northern LABRADOR. 



above the general level of the land. The Island of 

 Mecatina is 685 feet above the Gulf, Cape Mecatina 

 being the highest land from Mingan to Bradore, 



We dropped anchor in Sleupe harbor in Gore Island, 

 after the quickest voyage Capt. French had ever made. 

 The run from Boston had been a fine one, w^ith north- 

 west winds throughout, and no fog. At sunset the 

 thermometer was 42°, and it grew still cooler as we ran 

 into our harbor, which was on the southern exposure, on 

 which were numerous snow-banks in the deep gulches 

 leading down to the water. 



The rocks were red syenite, like those of Mt. Desert, 

 Me., with its characteristic hummocky outline and pre- 

 cipitous walls fronting the sea. No bowlders were seen 

 about the harbor, but the rocky shores were marked and 

 polished by the ice for a few feet above the water's edge. 



The murres and saddle-back gulls were now just 

 hatching, while the eider-ducks were beginning to lay 

 their eggs. The curlew-berry was now in flower. In 

 the garden of one of the settlers (Michael Cant6), who 

 were French Canadians, the rhubarb or pie plant was 

 just above ground, the parsnips were six inches high, 

 and the grass about the houses was four inches in height, 

 but as yet there was no verdure on the hills, the surface 

 being still sere and rusty, the snow having so recently 

 melted away. The season opens here the middle or last 

 of May, when the snow mostly disappears. The ice left 

 the bay the 20th of May, and about this date the black 

 bear comes out of his winter quarters. It was too early 

 for cod or salmon, and the capelin had not appeared. 



Our harbor was between two islands, and on one were 

 two houses, and on the other five, one of them a well- 



