CHAPTER VII. 



A summer's cruise to northern LABRADOR. 



II. HENLEY HARBOR TO CAPE ST. MICHAEL. 



As we entered Henley Harbor the scene was unique. 

 The strait was clear of ice, though a few days earlier 

 the harbor had been packed with it, and remnants were 

 stranded along the shore or carried hither and thither 

 with the tides. The outlines of some of the pieces were 

 beautiful ; many were painted with green tints while 

 the sun was high, but later in the afternoon the greens 

 were succeeded by bright azure blues, contrasting with 

 the almost cobalt blues of the distant Laurentian hills. 

 The entrance to Henley Harbor is very fine, the sea- 

 cliffs being over 200 feet high, while behind are the pe- 

 culiar outlines of the Laurentian gneiss, rising in long 

 swells like whales' backs to a height of perhaps five or 

 six hundred feet. Henley Harbor lies under the lofty, 

 precipitous basaltic cliffs of the Devil's Dining Table, 

 which caps Henley Island. We sail through a fleet of 

 Newfoundland fishermen, whose low, thick masts, strong, 

 clumsy rigging, and ironed and planked hulks — for they 

 were sealers, and had not stopped to doff their ice-armor 

 — contrasted with the beautiful model, slender, tapering 

 masts and spars of our fleeter craft. Their decks were 

 crowded with men, women, and children, dogs and 

 goats, for these people had, like the old Norsemen, 

 brought their families and stock with them for a sum- 



