:. 1883.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



143 



other side of the island, She Was again alone for several days. 

 One fine calm day, an American fishing schooner, which 

 had remained almosl stationary for several hoars opposite 

 iiif. inii nasi anchor, and made preparations to land pan of 

 ■ > iih the evident intention of visiting the house. 

 ■■. , ing thai her unprotected state would expose her to 

 insult and danger, hastily caught up a pair of scissors, cni 

 her hair short to make il resemhle thai of a man. slipped on 

 dome Qf ha husband's old fishing clothes, besmeared her 

 face SO fts to give it the appcarauoeT.t' being covered with a 

 young growing beard, and i|tiietly awaited the arrival of the 

 visitors who soon made their appearance carrying with them 

 a jar of whiskey, cards and provisions. Nm being ahle lo 

 speak English, by sighs she made them welcome, and all 

 that afternoon until next night she was forced to drink, play 

 :n! in. lo-. and lake part in a perfect carouse with the 

 nnrnly set. However, she acquitted herself so well as toe? 

 cite no suspicion in the minds of the rough seamen ami 

 parted with them the best of friends, hut feeling thankful to 

 have got fid of such unwelcome guesls. For many years 

 she spent such a life on Antieosti as few women have ever 

 experienced anywhere. 



At I !st Citony decided to come over and live on the north 

 shore, where I met them. She often begged her husband to 

 come to Quebec, but be refused to do" so. Once She ran 

 away from home while he was absent, with the intention of 

 sending him w or.l to follow heron her arrival at Quebec 

 :1ns being the only plan she could conceive of inducing him 

 to leave .such a desolate place, but he, reaching home earlier 

 ihan she expected, followed her footsteps in the sand on the 

 beacll, and overtook her on the road to a locality where she 

 hoped to rind a schooner lo bring her back to the civilization 

 she so yearned after. 



\\\ presence appeared to give her new courage. and I 

 strongly urged her husband to come up, promising to pro- 

 cure work for him, The next summer he did so and soon 

 found employment at his trade, but; after a few months' 

 residence in town Mrs. Gi tony 's health broke down again, 

 andiwas surprised to learn that they had returned to Labra- 

 dor once more. 



About a year afterward a woman dressed in black was 

 shown into my office, and 1 again beheld Mrs. Oifotiy, this 

 time a widow. She told me flint upon their return til Lab- 

 rador liny had gone far back into the wilderness with the 

 necessary supplies to spend the winter trapping. They had 

 two dogs and a "commctic," or sled to assist them in carry- 

 ing their outfit .- but they had hardly reached their destina- 

 tion when her husband was stricken with paralysis and died 



in her arms. Fancy her dreadful positu 



away from any habitatio 

 band! .She nearly went 

 up all her courage she Si 

 atld traveled the 'long, lo: 

 fisherman's, when she be 

 Quebec, intending never 



idled mile 

 dead bus 



-ith the bod 

 mad with horn 



aimed the lifeless form or, the sleS 

 telv journey back to a neighboring 

 ricd her husband and came up to 

 lo return to Labrador aeain. 

 Recently, however. I was astonished to learn that, all hough 

 now past forty years of age. she has married another fisher- 

 man and gone back with him to that desolate coast, to re- 

 sume the life that she once so dreaded, but she now evidently 

 prefers to any other. 



Bomc person-, eventually become so fascinated with the 

 wild, free life of -a trapper or fisherman, that, notwithstand- 

 ing its hardships and vicissitudes, starvation often Stating 

 I hem in the face, a few month's residence in a large city be 

 come mi irksome to them that they long to return to their for 

 . . oration, and frequently do so. 

 1 have known a well educated man, born and brought up 

 near Quebec, formerly a storekeeper, married to an educated 

 woman, who accepted a situation as liirhlhouse keeper on 

 the Island of Antieosti, and afterward obtained, through 



family iiifli 



lieien't remuneration to ei 

 well and live comfortably 

 his isolated island home, i 

 back his former position; 



tent 



out of theii minds f 

 lives. These were! 

 up better, and freqi 

 he station in order, 

 •fiinhappiness. Age, 

 ife and children se 

 ell educated and 



ud a ye 

 nit I ha 

 jdrearh 



blv met: 



) the 



w 



ppointment with suf- 

 bring up his family 



d tears when he left 

 terward trying to get 

 u others to go 

 otony of their 

 PI 



idi 



ISl ••{ the 



vhile their husbands look the r 



k, keeping 



thei 



lilv 



thereare some stations, whe 



to be perfectly contented, til 



accomplished in music and o™ 

 iinemeuts. They are well supplied with literature, and their 

 Conversation is free from slang so often noticeable in town- 

 bred people, 



Professor Linden, in his interesting and truthfully written 

 papers published in your last volume, mention 

 families, that of Mr. Edwin Pope, of Anl 

 amiable daughters, who have never till last 

 island, would do credit to any city family. 

 equally well lifted to appear lo advantage, ai 



Mrs. Pope was born and brought up on the it 



the best of my knowlodee has neverleft il 

 There ;.re otb. ;r < ;,, m j distriol on the coast 



win. are possi-ijeii I ..it enasiderablE education 



linement. 

 Ai the solitary Bird Rock Station, where the lighthouse 



is perched on a square rock a few hundred feet m extent. 



which one can reach only by being hauled up in a box by 



means of a crane 120 feet from the water, the keepers have 





10 



jfsuch 



CO- 



li, 



whose 



Ve; 





left the 



Hi 





eais are 



lyv 



here, and 



■in 



d 





of 



L 



lbrador 



and i 



ven re- 



been sadly tried. The 



residence, became insan 



was replaced by a very 



tilled the situation fori 



leave his station to nun 



was overtaken by adtoi 



bodies never being re, „ ,. 



must able .-mil intelligent of guardians, while tiring the fog- 



eanncm, by some means ignited a barrel of gunpowder near 

 ■img -on and assistant was blown to 

 ing these fatalities, no sooner does a 



lications for it pour in, invariably 



it all the necessary qualifications to 



keeper there, aft. 

 a the monotony of the life. He 

 •table man who, after having 

 tars, was one day tempted to 

 on the surrounding ice, but 

 1 perished with his'sou. their 

 ■d. His successor, one of tb e 



at hand, and 



moms: yei notwithsta 



vacancy occur than a] 



from those possessed 



earn a living elsewher.. 



A few years ago 1 visited the coast iu the steamer Druid, 

 together with his Excellency the Governor-General and 



if the most interesting local 

 uds, and anchored in the beau- 

 Excellency and mvself. taking 

 M paddled by two men, hoping 



We had been informed else- 



•dtc. \N e stopped 



-s. among others Seven 



il bay of that name. I 



guns, embarked in a < 



1 a shot at somethin, 



that porcupines wl._ 

 . them. When nearing the shore we were hailed by a 

 Canadian fisherman Who "knew me, and. having landed, I 

 asked him if there was anythiua in the neighborhood worth 

 shooting. He answered, "Yes, if you know whe, , 

 As we did not know which direction lo take we requested 



him to procure us a guide, whereupon he said he knew a 

 young Indian, an excellent sportsman, who. he thought, 

 would answer our purpose. His Excellency whispered to 



me to fry and get a full-blooded Indian, no sham, for sonic 



of those lie had employed on -imilar occasion- elsewhere 



bore Scotch names, such a- MoLeod etc., and re-emhled too 

 much the white man: he would like to see the veal Indian, 

 and expected to timl him in such a far-off place as this, I 

 told Hie fisherman to bring- us a real Indian, ami lie -aid he 

 would do so. Fancy our surprise when he van back a dis- 

 tance Inward an encampment of some twentv wigwams, on 

 hearing him shout at the top of his voice to a perfect look- 

 ing Indian, whom he called by the name of McKhlzie— 

 Scotch again, flowcev. since then his Excellency lias met 

 the ■■Simon pure" in the far West, without a Scotch name, 

 and doubtless enjoyed the novelty. 



NIMROD IN THE NORTH. 



uv l.tKCT. Ft;t-:ii K SOHWAMJA, 1 . 8. nr.iv 

 V.-Nlmrod with a Fish-rod. 



TO Ihedevolees, ,,l Laak YVallon, thesh old In. it! fan- 

 ning himself with his fin under the deep shadow of the 

 oVerhangmg willow or low brush, on a hot summer's day, 

 ii' il and blinking ai the feathered hook with a sort of 

 I've-been ihere-hefore expression: the grayling with bis 

 voracious endeavors to swallow hook, line, pole and fisher- 

 man; the bass, the pike, the pickerel ami all (lie gamy rrladi- 

 ators of the genial climes arc wanting in the frigid' zones; 

 yet there is suine -rand old sport, excitement spiced • li 

 danger— that sauce of man's noblest essays— in mauv of the 

 fishings of the frigid zones, from the huge whale cleaving 

 the dipper-built boat of bispursurevs into fragments with 

 one stroke of his huge tail, to the tiniest little 'tinny fellow 

 that scratches his head ou the under surface of the treacher- 

 ous tee. 



Ever since Captains Edge and Pool.. on Hie lath of .lutte, 

 Kill, struck and captured the first whale, and the amphibi- 

 ous sailors of the Dutch, English and Scotch have developed 

 tlii: mile -port it has been a wonder that so many sports- 

 man in search of gladiatorial games— game lhal could Rive 

 as well as receive death— have never crossed, weapons with 

 thesi tigers ,,f the s.a. Perhaps their pursuit prunes to 

 profit and loss; but SO does ihc buffalo in the hands of hire- 

 lings. Perhaps his haunts are too remote to be invaded 

 cheaply, but whoever heard the true sportsman stand, on 

 such ground when we consider the great expense of excur- 

 sions to such lands as Uriea and elsewhere lo kill the li,,„, 

 tiger or leopard. \\ hale\ er may be the reason, the noblest 

 '•game" given to man is lefl lo the hands of those who kill 

 him for the coin he will bring in the markets. I can 



imagine nothing more exciting than a good Whal 



and 1 think it would send any sportsman's blood up to (buck) 

 fever heat. I had been promised a royal old chance to par- 

 ticipate in such a chase by the mate of the Eotlien, the 

 whaler that bore us to fiudson's Bav. should they ever 

 ■•lower" for one before my little party was set ashore lo 

 prosecute its Arctic explorations, but no such a chance ever 

 came, although no one probably watched Ihc man in Hie 

 crow's nes! at Ihc luaslhc.u.l for "there she blows" more than 

 I. no. even those towhoui llitlr pocket was m ore than their 

 pride. 



The Esquimaux catch considerable number.- of whale and 

 trade their bone ami oil to the whaling ships, and Ibis fact, 

 creates considerable rivalry between the different vessels lo 

 reach tic whaling grounds first in order tobarter. with those 

 native fishermen, who have been plving their vocation for a 

 month before Ihc ships can get in. The ancient Esquimaux, 

 or purely native method uf killimt, a whale was to pursue 

 him with the harpoons and bladders we have described in 

 the walrus and seal huul, by a large number of natives in 

 their li.il..-. or skin canoes a'ud literally till him so full of 

 them that when exhausted after a Ions chase he was unable 

 to sink beneath the wafer and fella prc.\ to Ihcir.-harp lanes 

 made of wood and tipped With walrus-ivory heads. .Many 

 of the, old Iw itlik Esquimaux told me of their ancient uhal'e 

 hunts, the flesh of these mon-b is keeping a fair -bad village 

 in dog meal for the winter while tin ,-ki i about nr m -■■ dtrV 

 wa-. used by lhem,clvc.-: Ihc whalebone cu! into strips was 

 used lo lash their fairf&s' frame- together, while the bone 

 propel' from the jaw was sawn into long batten-like -trips 

 twelve or fifteen feet long, three or four inches wide and an 

 inch thick, with which they shod their sledges to give them 

 a broad running and bearing surface. This with the oil and 



bhlbbei for light and food made theVhalc 006 ol tj it 



useful game they could pursue. 



Uow they hunt them like the whalers, oftentimes in boats 

 supplied by them or obtained from wrecked whaling ships, 

 and sell the proceeds for almost ie-ivnii'i, ,e: residls, the 

 baneful result's of the contact of civilization w oh savitrery* 

 The Esquimaux also f,, r m, wherever they can bo obtained.':! 

 fait portion of the crew of these vessels, for nowhere nan 

 be found more hardy harpooriers bravei boatmen than 

 these natural, fishermen in their sea; .a i,-, and storms 



The skin of the whale is consider, d the boBt nan for eat- 

 ing. It is "as black as the ace of spades," and whan boiled 

 in the trying-pots ife taste. is not unlike- thai of trioe It is 

 an excellent article of diet, in thai it assist! to keep away 

 that bane of the sailor, the -ctxny I'-efor. rL.-ii " a; -■■ •' 

 with white men thev would not 'try out" the whale blubber 

 in such a wholesale "manner as now done foi their benefit, as 





uld dri 



frightened ana;, in this manner is very slow to return, 



tbi ...., . -' r ....s or mi dicinc men on the shore', assisted by those 

 who have remained behind, beseech their god oi the seas to 

 give the whalemen luck by their vociferous ,m</ 

 system of gymnastic devotion more fatiguing than the chase 

 or the whale. 



One use of the whalebone lo which the uafiu-: pul if, and 



" . i vfii-ii ....on. nn,def ^my personal observation, T 



must not allow to pas;, unnoticed.' Whenever wolves have 

 been unusually predatory, have destroyed a favorite dog or 

 so, or have dug upa cflcftc of reindeer meat just when it was 

 needed, or in any way have aroused the ire of the Inauit 

 hunter, he takes a strip of whalehoni ibout the size of those 

 used ill corsets, wraps il. up into a corupacl helical mass like 

 a watch spring, having previously sharpened both ends, 

 then ties it. together with reindeer sinew, and plasters il with 

 a compound of blood and grease, which is allowed lo freeze 

 and forms a binding cement .sufficiently strong to cut the 

 sinew string at every second or third turn. This, with a 

 lot of similar looking baits of meat and blubber, is s ( i, fared ' 



over the snow or ground, and the hungry wolf devours it 

 along with the others, and when it is thawed out by the 

 warmth of his stomach, it elongates and has the well-known 

 effect of whalebone on the system, bnt having the military 

 advantage of interior lines its cllVcIs are more rapid . kilUijg 

 the poor wolf, wilh the most horrible aaonies. in n couple of 

 days. 



The narwal. nallrwal or narwhal, or, av il, is sometimes 

 called, the sea-unicorn, gives the natives of the North much 

 sport in its capture, which, iu general, is the old stereotype 

 method of inflated bladder and ha rpoon, a method which 

 has never been improved upon, even by the ingenious 

 Yaflkee Whalemen, for their whalcboat is nothing more 

 than the Boat, and their harpoon looks wonderfully as if il 

 had been borrowed from that of the Esquimaux, with civil- 

 ized workmanship in its detail. The natives in Hudson's 

 Strait brought us some to barter, but 1 have never been able 

 to see any in the bay, and in fact Ihe Esquimaux there know 

 of no such fish at all. Its peculiar twdsted ivory tusk, of 

 from about five i<> eigbl feel in length, is its weapon of 

 defense, and il is not altogether a bad "one if it can be once 

 pollen through the frail covering of the native skin canoe, 

 but accidents from it arc rare; in fad the pursuit of the 

 narwhal is not a common sport even in waters where it is 

 Ihe most numerous. The tlesh of the narwhal is considered 

 very tine by the Esquimaux, and as they are from fifteen t.i 

 twenty feel in length exclusive of the horn, it seems singu- 

 lar that they are not pursued more when they obtain SO 

 much meat in one, animal. Probably the tusk or rather its 

 active use mostly influences their practical minds, The lisli 

 themselves use il to transfix fish which they pursue, to 

 break the thin ice so they may breathe and blow, and as a 

 weapon of defense. It has been known to bury it iu the 

 wood of ships, into the sides of whales, and even run it 

 through the copper of ships: in truth it is the hardest ivorv 

 known, being worth double that of the best elephant. 



A.Bwe were entering the eastern entrance of Hudson's 

 Strait we managed to while away a lew hours pleasantly 

 from time to time iu shooting with our revolvers at tie 

 grampus whales that came sportim: alongside of our ship. 

 witli a i'amiliariiy that seemed to take as to bf one of their 



kind. It is needle-,- lo remark thai WO "bagged" none, for 

 apistol Shot WOTdd nave HO more effect on their black. 



swarthy backs thai protruded from the water than upon u 

 Creed moor butt : iu fact they really seemed to enjoy it a- 

 their sportings became great.;,- arid their t'amiliaritvstronger 

 in direct ratio lo the amount of firing we would do at them 

 a sort of satire on our shooting. It is probably their pen 

 chant for seal meat that attracts them into the sub-Arctic 

 regions, sonieof the sailors believing that they disludto- them 

 With thcil' tail or hack tin from their frail abodes on ihee,p.v 



of the ice or the rocks where they crawLout to ba.sk in the 

 sun. When the Ajcrii sky is deeply overcast and ihc water, 

 i tin son ; sympathy have taken on the same, garb with 

 the blackest lone sw.-l!-_. there i- nothingmon beautiful than 

 a school of white whales passing by their ivory white skins 

 contrasting conspicuously with the dark green fluid iu which 

 rhey swim; or when the sun is shinim; 1m i l: i . 1 1 v ib. lr back-. 

 as they roll gracefully alone, shine like go many mirrors so 

 brilliant is their polish. 



They are -ecu in fiudson's Hay early in Ihe spring travel- 

 ing along the coast as soon as the shove ice breaks up goner- 

 ally toward the east at Depot Island, and then agaiu become 

 numerous in the fall just before the new ice forms, traveling 

 ill the opposite direction. The natives are eager in their 

 pursuit, as if gives them some variety from the summer 

 walrus hunt, and nearly as much blubber and meal. One 

 thing I could not help noticing in their movements, while 

 wc were encamped on Depot Island watching them as they 



passed, and that, was the almost simultaneous manner in 

 which the whole shoal, however widely dispersed, would 

 appear at the surface It almost seemed as if I hey were 

 figures joined by inuuovablc rods and raised and lowered by 

 machinery Even when the island split them apart this 

 synchronism was. still observed, and ou one occasion this hap- 

 pened i' hen thcr. were but two which w ere thus separated. 

 'lb..-.. -,,, ,.ji drilled dragoons of (he deep seemed lo be in their 

 highest state of discipline in their fall maneuvers when 

 they appear to have more leisure: their spring actions being 

 moi-e Ihe melhod of a mob scurrying along in a hurry lo 

 their feeding grounds. The porpoise is sometime seen" and 

 caught iu the Arctic, but it is, in general, a very scarei 

 game, not to be depended upon, f know that inastrid 

 scientific sense all of the above are mammals, and therefore 

 not, strictly speaking, fish, but arc introduced, and their 

 chase described in their most popular sense. Thev are really 

 no more fishes ihan lb. seals and walrilBSes already de 

 scribed. 



Those old piscatorial pirates, Ihe sharks, often invade the 



Arctic, no doubl I ted by the earcaBses of the whales or 



seals aud walrnssos left to rot ot riiib a m engaged in their 

 pursuit Natives a nglinj Erom lb,cii sfin canoes in deep 



the bait, but there is no use puffing againsl such a mountain 

 of flesh and relying upon sheer strength to bring him up: 



a if. bv '.i ',1 n "\"l :'„: : vbi:-l, pud bi'iii. 



appeasi him, but cautiously hauled in again almost mime 

 dia'eiy, the. shark slowly rising to this "strategic niampula 

 tion until •'like a finny fool" he rests upon the surface of 

 the waiter mereh by" the aid of the w'eakest fishing-line, 

 when wifcha long knife the h^hei.rnattdfiaei»iiBly dispatches 

 him by a well-directed thrust through the .spinal cord. 

 Prom their well-known voracity in warmer climes il seeuU 

 jugular indeed that they do not oftener attack ihe native 

 fishermenin thcil little skii bul there is not a re- 

 corded or known instauci '-' r ' such ittacks even on the west 

 shore of Greenland, where they arc most numerous and 

 where the natives catch large numbers of them —from ten to 

 twenty thousand a year, according to Dr. Kink, Danish 

 inspector of this coast for a long number of years. The 

 must usual method of catching dies,.- fish can hardly lie said 

 to lie fishing al all. Near a boh' in the ice a lighted torch 

 is placed, aud two natives stand on opposite sides of the 

 hole with two sharp hand-hooks, like deck hands of a 

 Steamer at Ihe end of a Ante waiting for merchandise, until 

 the shark slicks his nose out, wheu he is treated in about the 

 same businesslike manner as he is hauled on the ice, where 

 their carcasses often accumulate by hundreds, as this shark 

 fishery when once commenced is generally carried on 

 through i be whole winter* The cartilaginous bones are the 

 favorite pans for food, as the raw frozen tlesh seems to 

 have a depressing effect wdien long continued, and to if is 

 attributed the dog disease of the North when fed to them, 

 and which even few years carries off so many of these u-e 

 Fill animals. 



