6 L A B R 
the air becomes foft and warm, bare rocks no longer ap¬ 
pear, the land is thickly clothed with timber, which- 
reaches down almoft to high-water mark, and is generally 
edged with grafs. Few (lout trees are to be met with un¬ 
til you have advanced a conliderable diftance, and have 
fhut the fea out. Nature has clothed the ground with 
fpruces and firs; intermixing a few larches, birch, and 
afpens, fparingly, along the edges of thofe woods which 
grow adjoining to the ftiores of the bays, rivers, brooks, 
and ponds, where only they arrive at any degree of per¬ 
fection. Labrador produces but feven forts of trees which 
are worthy of that appellation, viz. black, white, and red, 
fpruce ; larch, filver fir, birch, and afpen; at leak, if there 
be any others, they muft grow on the confines of Canada. 
The reft are mere fhrubs; they are the alder, ofier, dog- 
berry, pears, juniper, currants, rafpberries, with a few 
others. The fruits confilt of various kinds of berries, 
viz. currants, rafpberries, partridge-berries, empetum ni¬ 
grum, apples, pears, whortle-berries, cranberries, and a 
fmall berry, the plant of which refembles that of the ftraw- 
berry, each producing but a Angle fruit, which is of a 
bright pink colour, granulated like a mulberry, and has 
a delicious flavour. The only vegetables found by him fit 
to eat, were wild celery, fcurvy-grafs, the young leaves 
of the ofier, and of the ground whortle-berry; Indian 
fallad, red docks, and an alpine plant which the rein-deer 
are very fond of. The foil is nroftly of a light kind, yet 
clay is common; no ores have yet been difcovered, except 
that of iron, which feems to be in great plenty. White 
fpar is very common, and feveral famples of that beauti¬ 
ful one, called Labrador fpar, had been picked up by the 
Efquimaux. The birds of the country are the white¬ 
tailed eagle, falcons, hawks, and owls of various kinds ; 
raven, white groufe, ptarmigan, fpruce-game, whiffling 
curlew, grey plover, various kinds of fand-pipers, and 
other waders ; geefe, ducks of various forts, fhags, gulls, 
divers of various forts, fwallows, martins, fome few fpe- 
cies of fmall birds, fnipes, and doves; the two laft are 
very fcarce. The beafts are bears both white and black, 
rein-deer, wolves, wolverines ; foxes of various kinds, 
viz. black, filver, crofs, yellow, white, and blue; mar¬ 
tins, lynxes, otters, mink, beavers, mufquafh, racoons, 
hares, rabbits, and moles, and probably other kinds. He 
who wifhes to ltudy the manners of bears may here find am¬ 
ple fatisfadtion. At a cataradt, furrounded with alders, 
l'pruces, firs, larches, birch, and afpin, many falmon af- 
cend, and the bears alfemble in numbers to catch their 
favourite prey. Some dive after the fifh, and do not ap¬ 
pear again till at the diflance of feventy or eighty yards. 
Others feem to be loungers, who only come to fee what is 
going forward, and to enjoy the promenade and the fpedta- 
cle. Mr. Cartwright counted, upon one occafion, thirty- 
Swo white bears, and three black ones. 
The climate is remarkably healthy, the winters are very 
long and fevere, but the cold is of a pleafant kind ; never 
cauling a perfon to fhiver, as it does in England ; neither 
could he ever obferve that the fudden and great tranfi- 
tions which are fo often experienced had any bad efteft on 
the conllitution, nor did he know of oneendemical com¬ 
plaint. A few miles from the fea, the weather in the 
fummer-time is quite warm, and the air has a remarkable 
foftnefs in it; but the multitudes of mofquitos and fand- 
flies are intolerable grievances. On the fea-coaft the air is 
much cooler; and it is very raw and cold indeed when 
the wind comes in from the ocean, occafioned by the pro¬ 
digious quantities of ice fo immediately contiguous to the 
coaft, whereby the water itfelf is always in a chilled ftate. 
The bufinefs hitherto carried on by the Englith is the 
fame with that on the iiland of Newfoundland. The ex¬ 
ports are cod-filh, falmon, oil, whalebone, and furs ; but 
tire latter are much fuperiorto any of the fame kind which 
are killed upon that ifland, and few parts of the world 
produce better. There are feveral Moravian fettlements 
on the eaft coalt, the principal Qf which is Nain, formed 
-about the year 1764. 
A D O R. 
The native inhabitants of Labrador confift of two dif- 
tin< 5 f nations of Indians, Mountaineers and Efquimaux, 
who live in bitter enmity with each other. The Moun¬ 
taineers, who inhabit the interior parts of the country to¬ 
wards the north, are tall, thin, and excellent walkers ; 
their colour greatly refembles that of our gypfies, proba¬ 
bly occafioned by their being confiantly expofed to the 
weather and fmoky wigwams. Thefe people inhabit the 
interior parts of the country, which they traverfe by the 
afliftance of canoes, covered with birch-rinds, in the fum- 
mer ; and of rackets, or fnow-fhoes, in the winter. They 
are wonderfully fugacious at killing deer, otherwife they 
would ftarve; and when they are in a part of the country, 
in the winter-time, where deer are fcarce, they will follow 
a herd by the flot, day and night, until they tire them 
quite down; when they are fure to kill them all, that is 
to fay, if the night is light enough; for they reft only 
four or five hours, then purfue again; which fpace of 
time being too ftiort for the deer to obtain either food or 
reft, they are commonly jaded out by the fourth day. 
The Indians paunch and leave them, go back to their fa¬ 
milies, return immediately with bag and baggage, and re¬ 
main there until they have eaten them all; when, if they 
have not provided another fupply elfewhere, they look out 
afrefh. But, when deer are plentiful, they are quickly 
provided with food without much trouble. As thefe peo¬ 
ple never flay long in a place, confequently they never 
build houfes, but live the yeas round in miferable wig¬ 
wams, the coverings of which are deer-fkins and birch- 
bark ; the fkins which they ufe for this purpofe, as well as 
for clothes, are tainted to take off the hair, then walked 
in a lather of brains and water, and afterwards dried and 
well rubbed; but for winter ule they alfo have jackets 
of beaver or deer-fkins, with the hair on. As to the mo¬ 
rals of thefe people, Mr. Cartwright fays, he cannot fpeak 
much in praife of them, for they are greatly addicted to 
drunkennefs and theft. They profefs the Romifh religion ; 
but know no more of it than merely to repeat a prayer or 
two, count their beads, and fee a prieft whenever they go 
to Quebec. 
Of the Efquimaux, however, Mr. Cartwright gives a 
much more favourable account. That gentleman’s objeft, 
in vifiting the coaft of Labrador, was the purfuit of va¬ 
rious branches of bufinefs, and particularly the cultiva¬ 
tion of a friendly intercourfe with the Efquimaux Indi¬ 
ans, “ who have always been accounted the moil favage 
race of people upon the whole continent of America.” 
How juftly they are now to be thus regarded, the reader 
will judge from the words of the author in his laft volume, 
where, fpeaking of thefe Indians, he obferves: “I will 
content myfelf with faying they are the beft-tempered 
people I ever met with, and molt docile ; nor is there a 
nation under the fun with which I would fooner truft my 
perfon and property ; although, till within thefe few years, 
they were never known to have any intercourfe with Eu¬ 
ropeans without committing theft or murder, and gene¬ 
rally both.” 
Having eftabliftied a friendly intercourfe with the Ef¬ 
quimaux Indians, Mr. C. relates many particulars of their 
ingenuity, difpofitions, and propeniities: “ Very little 
more (he obferves) than the mere neceflaries of life (which, 
a little reflection will convince every one, are very few 
indeed) will fatisfy an Indian ; for he has no ftimulus to 
induftry. When he has killed food, he has generally pro¬ 
cured clothing alfo ; therefore he will work no longer. 
As feals are infinitely more valuable to an Efquimau, and 
much more certain to be killed by him, than foxes, mar¬ 
tens, or any other animals, on the Ikins of which luxury 
has fixed a better price ; it is not furprifing that he will 
ftick clofe to the chafe of the one, to the great negledt of 
the other. Befides, the catching of furs is fo fatiguing 
and precarious, and the carcafes fo fmall, that, were he 
to give up his time to that bufinefs, his family muft perifti 
with hunger. Yet I have not a doubt, but commerce will, 
in progreis of time, have the fame eft'eft on thefe people, 
that 
