132 A summer's cruise to northern LABRADOR. 



spread over the landscape ; a brownish haze due to the 

 vapor in the air came in from the sea and settled over the 

 hills far and near, and as the twilight came on the hills 

 were still more dwarfed in size, when the chill southwest 

 wind from the Gulf, the coldest that blows over this ex- 

 posed point, sent us back to our vessel, where the ther- 

 mometer at 8 o'clock in the evening v^as 44° F. 



The fishing-hamlet of Flenley Harbor consists of a 

 few dwelling-houses, some of them inhabited during the 

 winter, with fish-houses and light wharves here called 

 " staffes." The winter houses are built of thick boards, 

 with flat tarred roofs, the sides of the houses being well 

 battened. The domestic animal here is the dog, New- 

 foundlanders — seven of them at one house — brought up 

 by the fishermen for the summer : there were no Eskimo 

 dogs or Eskimos at this point, though in the last century 

 they here congregated by hundreds. The fish-houses 

 were rude structures of one low shed, roofed with turf 

 and built on piles, reminding us somewhat of pictures 

 of the ancient pile-dwellings of prehistoric Switzerland. 



The fisherman's sail-boat is a ponderous, clumsy affair 

 called a "jack." It is twenty-five or thirty feet long, 

 with not much breadth of beam, rudely built, with short 

 masts, and small sails stained red or black, or with both 

 colors ; the oars are of spruce, and very large and heavy, 

 and the stern of the boat is provided with two stakes, 

 such as whalemen use for sculling. 



I interviewed a Mr. Stone, one of the settlers, regard- 

 ing the fisheries and hunting at this point, and he gaVe 

 me the following facts : At the height of the herring 

 fishery in August — and it should be borne in mind that 

 this fish is only a summer visitant, not spawning on the 



