26o THE LABRADOR ESKIMOS AND THEIR FORMER RANGE. 



landers [i.e., Greenland Eskimos] came originally from 

 Canada, and settled on the outermost islands of this 

 coast, but never penetrated into the country before they 

 were driven eastward to Greenland. This report gains 

 some credit from the state in which the above-mentioned 

 ruins are found. They consist in remains of walls and a 

 grave, with a low stone enclosure round the tomb, cov- 

 ered with a slab of the same material. They have been 

 discovered on islands near Nain, and though sparingly, 

 all along the whole eastern coast, but we saw none in 

 Ungava Bay." 



The following extracts from Robinson's " Notes on the 

 Coast of Labrador,"* throw some further light on the 

 early occupation of southern Labrador and eastern Can- 

 ada by the Eskimos : 



" The Esquimau tradition concerning the Norse- 

 men is clear enough : that they were a gigantic race, of 

 great strength — were very fierce, and delighted to kill 

 people — that they themselves could not be killed by 

 either dart or arrow, which rebounded from their breasts 

 as from a rock. The Esquimaux suppose these giants 

 still to exist, only very far north." (Page 28). 



"When the French first frequented the coast, it was in 

 possession of the Esquimaux up as far as the west end of 

 Anticosti. It appears that they had not been long in 

 possession before the arrival of the Europeans, and that 

 they had got it by conquest. During the time they held 

 the coast, it would seem, the Esquimau country was 

 the champ d'honneur of all the tribes of Indians from 

 New England and the Lakes to Hudson's Bay. Mic- 



* Trans. Lit. and Hist. Soc, Quebec, iv. i. Feb., 1843. 



