GRAND ROMAINE AND OLD ROMAINE 



tie more satisfactory. The captain, however, 

 never used a chart in navigating these waters, 

 as his knowledge, supplemented occasionally 

 by the use of the lead, was so much more 

 valuable. I once measured the first fathom 

 of the captain's plumb-line, and found it to 

 be ten instead of six feet long, and I noticed 

 that the cautious William would sing out 

 "Trois bras" whenever this line indicated 

 three and a half and even four fathoms. When 

 one considers that there are probably two 

 thousand islands on this strip of Audubon's 

 Labrador, it is evident that a pilot with a con- 

 genital and instinctive knowledge of the coast 

 is highly desirable. 



Not only was our captain familiar with the 

 topography, but he was also familiar with the 

 human population of the coast, • — he knew 

 every one by name and their fathers and 

 mothers before them. He said it was not 

 uncommon for a man to come out to his 

 schooner in order to learn from the captain 

 his own age. All the names of Labradorians 

 mentioned by Audubon in his Journal were 

 familiar to the captain. The descendants of 

 most of them were still living on the coast. He 



79 



