IN AUDUBON'S LABRADOR 



language, signifies sorcerer. At this point the 

 Indians before departure for the interior came 

 to consult the soothsayers to learn of their 

 coming fortune in the chase. Deep in the 

 valley, against a background of sheltered and 

 sheltering spruces, was the church. Its altar is 

 adorned by the skin of a polar bear shot here 

 one winter a few years ago. Near at hand on 

 the point — the old post — were a half-dozen 

 houses. 



"July 23, 1833. We visited to-day the Seal 

 establishment of a Scotchman, Samuel Rob- 

 ertson, situated on what he calls Sparr Point, 

 about six miles east of our anchorage [Bale 

 de Portage]." I quote from Audubon's Jour- 

 nal. On July 20, 1915, we dropped anchor at 

 Sparr Point in the well-protected harbor of 

 La Tabati^re. On the rocks at the entrance 

 were capstans for seal-nets, as the seal estab- 

 lishment was still there. Almost no seals were 

 caught last year, but the year before five or 

 six hundred were secured. We were soon 

 ashore at the fish-stage, for cod as well as 

 seals constitute the harvest here, and, walking 

 up through the multitude of Eskimo dogs, we 

 were greeted by Samuel Robertson, not the 



168 



