LAB 
“The face of the country did not pafs unobferved by 
them ; and their expreffion was, The land, is nil made ; for 
they fuppofed that we had cut down the woods, and le¬ 
velled the hills. In the former fuppofition they were cer¬ 
tainly right; and I do not wonder at the latter, lince they 
would naturally fuppofe that all the world was like the 
fmall part of it which they had formerly feen; and which 
is aim oft an entire collection of hilis covered with thick 
woods. . As they had never before feen any cultivated land 
(except a few l'mall gardens, which they obferved were 
dug with a fpa'de), they formed an idea of our immenfe 
numbers, by being able to till fo .much land and confume 
the produce of it in a year; exclufive of the animal food 
with which they faw our tables and markets abounded. 
How the inhabitants of London were fupplied with food, 
I could never make them fully comprehend, any more 
than I could the number of people by which th& metro¬ 
polis was inhabited. Their arithmetic goes no higher than 
the number twenty-one; therefore, the bell I could do, 
was to tell them, that a certain number of large whales 
would ferve them for one meal only. Nothing furprifed 
them more, than to meet with a man who allured, them 
he could not (hoot, had never killed an animal, nor feen 
the fea, in his life. 
“After my return to town, by his majefty’s pertnillion 
I took them to court ; where their drefles and behaviour 
made them greatly taken notice of. They were alfo at 
the houfes of feveral of the nobility and people of falhion ; 
and I omitted nothing, which came within the compafs 
of my pocket, to make their ftay in England agreeable, 
or to imprefs them with ideas of our riches and ftrength. 
The latter I thought highly necefl’ary, as they had often, 
when in Labrador, fpoken of our numbers with great con¬ 
tempt; and told methey were fo numerous, that they could 
cut olF all the Englifti with great eafe, if they thought 
proper to collect thernfelves together; an opinion which 
could not fail to produce in me very unpleafant reflections. 
But they had not been long in London before they con- 
fefled to me, that the Efquimaux were but as one, com¬ 
pared to the number of the Engl'ilh.” 
Having purchafed a brig of eighty tons, Mr. C. began, 
in the fpring of the year 1773, to prepare for a fecond 
voyage, in order to re (tore thefe Efquimaux to their coun¬ 
try and friends. But the pleafing profpefts which he had 
indulged were of a fliort duration. On the evening of 
the 13th of May, Caubvick, a female Indian, complained 
of great ficknefs at her ftomach, which daily grew worfe. 
At Lymington, her diforder was declared to be the fmall- 
pox ; and, as it was in vain to expeft the reft fliould efcape 
the infection, preparative medicines were accordingly 
given to them. On the Z2d, Caubvick appeared to be 
out of danger. At the fame time, Ickcongoque, another 
Indian, began to ficken. On the 29th, fo dreadful a flench 
pervaded the whole veflel, that there feemed reafon to ap¬ 
prehend that they would all be foon attacked with a pef- 
tilential fever. The Indians were all ill, and two of the 
(hip’s crew were already indifpofed. Mr. C. therefore 
ordered the mailer to carry the veflel into Plymouth, re¬ 
moved the Indians on-lhore, and procured for them every 
medical afliftance which Plymouth afforded ; yet, melan¬ 
choly to relate! Caubvick alone recovered. O11 the 16th 
of July, Mr. C. failed for Labrador. The hair of the In¬ 
dian woman being much matted with the lmall-pox, it 
was by no means eafy to prevail on her to part with that 
which the regarded as a principal ornament; nor, when 
cut off, would any intreaties, or reprefentations of the 
danger to which the would expofe her countrymen, in¬ 
duce her to throw it overboard. She carried it home; 
and, in the farther perufal of the Journal, we oblerve a 
conjecture, founded on the knowledge of foine facts, that 
the hair of this Indian was the means of communicating 
to her countrymen this fatal diforder. On the 31ft of 
Auguft they reached the coaft of Labrador. The report 
of- their arrival brought the three fouthernmoli tribes of 
Efquimaux, amounting to about five hundred, to receive 
LAB 11 
their long-expefted friends, and to hear the wonderous 
llories which they might have to relate. We (hall give 
an account of the affecting feene of their difappointment 
in the words of the author: “ I placed myfelf upon a 
rock near the water-fuie, and Caubvick fat down a few 
paces behind me. We waited for the landing of the In¬ 
dians with feelings very different from their’s; who 
were hurrying along with tumultuous joy at the thoughts 
of immediately meeting their relations and friends again. 
As the Ihore would not permit them to land out of their 
boats, they brought them to their anchors at a diftance 
off, and the men came in their kyacks, each bringing two 
other perfons, lying flat on their faces; one behind and 
the other before, on the top of the (kin covering. On 
drawing near the Ihore, and perceiving only Caubvick and 
myfelf, their joy abated, and their countenances aflumed 
a different afpeft. Being landed, they fixed their eyes oti 
Caubvick and me, in profound gloomy iilence. At length, 
with great perturbation and in faltering accents, they en¬ 
quired, feparately, what was become of the reft ; and were 
no fooner given to underltand, by a filent forrowful fliake 
of my head, that they were no more, than they inftantly 
fet up fuch a yell, as 1 had never before heard. Many of 
them, but particularly the women, fnatched up (tones, and 
beat thernfelves on the head and face till they became 
Shocking fpedtacles; one pretty young girl (a filter to the 
two men deceafed) gave herfelf fo fevere a blow upon the 
cheek-bone, that lhe bruifedand cut the fiefii Ihockingly, 
and almoft beat an eye out. In fliort, the violent frantic 
expreflions of grief were fuch as far exceeded my imagi¬ 
nation ; and I could not help participating with them fo 
far as to Hied tears molt plentifully. They no fooner ob¬ 
ferved my emotion, than, iniftakingitfortheapprehenfions 
which I was under for fear of their refentment, they in¬ 
ftantly feemed to forget their own feelings, to relieve thofe 
of mine. They preffed round me, clafped my hands, and 
faid and did all in their power to convince me that they 
did not entertain any fufpicion of my conduct towards 
their departed friends. As foon as the firlt violent tranf- 
ports of grief began to fubfide, I related the melancholy 
tale, and explained to them, as well as I could, the dif¬ 
order by which they were carried off; and pointed to 
Caubvick, who bore very ftrong as well as recent marks 
of it. They often looked very attentively at her, but, 
during the whole time, they never fpoke one word to her, 
nor (lie to them. As foon as I had brought the afflicting 
ftory to a conclulion, they allured me of their belief of 
every particular, and renewed their declarations of friend- 
fliip. Their ftay afterwards was but fliort; they prefently 
reimbarked, weighed their anchors, and ran acrofs the 
harbour to Raft Tickle, where they landed and encamped ; 
the reft of the afternoon and the whole of the night was 
fpent in horrid veilings, which were confiderably aug¬ 
mented by the variety of echoes, produced from the mul¬ 
tiplicity of hills lurrounding the harbour, till the whole 
rung again with founds that almoft petrified the blood of 
the brig’s crew and my new fervants.” Mr. Cartwright 
returned to England at the latter end of the year 1773. 
He made afterwards four other voyages of commercial 
('peculation to the fame coalls, and was always well re¬ 
ceived by the natives. He publilhed his entertaining 
Journal in 1793, in 3 vols. ^to. The coaft of Labrador ex¬ 
tends from lat. 50. 30. to62. 30. N. I on. 55. 30. to 78. 30. W. 
LABRADC'R, a large lake which, by its numerous 
branches, forms a water-communication through great part 
of the illand of Cape Breton. In fome maps it is called 
St. Peter’s Lake. 
LABRADO'R STONE. See Feldfpatum, under the ar¬ 
ticle Mineralogy. 
LABRADO'R TEA, in botany. See Ledum. 
LABRIT', a town of France,, in the department of the 
Landes, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrift of 
Mont-de-Marfan. The place contains 584, and the can¬ 
ton 4401, inhabitants, on a territory of 497^ kiliometres, 
in nine communes. 
LABRO'SE 
