A LAND OF ETERNAL WARRING 681 



A se:ai.ing cre:w "panning se:aIvS" 



In this case the seal pelts are all massed together. Flags denoting to what ship they 

 belong are fixed up on the heap, and the ship endeavors to pick up all her "pans" as oppor- 

 tunity offers. Often she never finds them, and so much waste occurs many times ; also another 

 crew comes along, removes the flags and annexes the seals. 



or soft bones, far up in the nose and 

 right against the base of the skull. 



Wolves in Labrador are not very plen- 

 tiful, judging from the quantity of skins 

 sold annually at the various fur-trading 

 posts, but they are naturally the relent- 

 less foe of the reindeer, whom they al- 

 ways follow till they kill. Of all the 

 tragedies of life that appeal to me as 

 pathetic in Labrador, none equals the 

 wearing down of a gentle deer by these 

 grim shadows of death. To know, as 

 they must, that a wolf is on their track, 

 and that there is no defense against him, 

 no safety night or day, must be a pro- 

 longed nightmare besides which the pain 

 of being torn to pieces alive by a hawk 

 or eagle is an easy death. 



A deer at bay, standing on his hind 

 legs, makes an excellent fight with his 

 enemy. Not only have trappers told me 

 of scenes of this kind they have them- 

 selves witnessed, but I saw my own larg- 



est Eskimo dog twice knocked head over 

 heels by one of our own tethered rein- 

 deer stags that the brute was endeavoring 

 to kill. 



Black wolves, or nearly black ones, are 

 occasionally killed on our coast. I know 

 of no one who ever saw a white one on 

 our coast except the author of "Northern 

 Trails." Among other animals of value, 

 the black and silver fox rank easily first. 



No fur can be said to have a standard 

 value ; the range is immense. Five years 

 ago, on the coast, Patch foxes fetched 

 as high as $30.00 apiece, and the best 

 lynx skin only $3.50. Today the Patches 

 are worth $8.00 to $10.00 at very best, 

 while the lynx are worth $25.00 to $30.00. 

 I have bought sables on the coast at $3.00, 

 and a year or so later at $30.00. Today 

 they are down again to about $10.00. 

 The biggest range is naturally in black 

 and silver foxes, which I have known 

 fetch once on the coast $900.00. On the 



