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Though they display great art in extracting little pre- BOOK sents from strangers, they are, nevertheless, very peace- LXXVII. fully disposed, and never become intoxicated. Amongst Details

them, woman is considered as a mere beast of burthen.

If concerning

any one asks an Indian of the north in what beauty consists, he will reply, that a broad flat figure, small eyes, and hollow cheeks, each of which is marked with three or four black streaks, a low forehead, a long chin, a large and hooked nose, a dark complexion, and pendent breasts, constitute genuine beauty. These charms are greatly enhanced in value, when the fair possessor knows how to prepare all sorts of skins, and make dresses from them, and is able to carry a weight of from a hundred, to a hundred and forty pounds in summer, and can draw a much greater load in winter. The mother of Greenstockings, a beauty somewhat of this description, who attended Franklin's expedition in 1819, took alarm at the sketch prepared by the draughtsman, lest her charms should tempt the king of England to carry off her daughter from the country! The prevalence of polygamy procures them a greater number of these submissive, faithful, and even affectionate servants. Upon receiving an affront from any one, they challenge their enemy to wrestle. Murder is very rare amongst them. Any one who has shed the blood of his countryman, is abandoned by his parents and friends, and is reduced to a wandering life; and whenever he issues from his place of concealment, every person exclaims, "There goes the murderer!"

their man

ners.

The Knistenaux, denominated Cristinaux by the an- The Kniscient Canadians, and Killistonous by some modern writers tenaux. Crees by the English, wander over, or inhabit all the country to the south of the lake of the Mountains, as far as the lakes of Canada, and from Hudson's Bay to lake Winipeg. The Knistenaux are of a moderate stature, are well proportioned, and possess a remarkable degree of activity. Black and piercing eyes animate their agreeable and open countenance. They paint their face of different colours. They wear a simple and convenient dress, cut

BOOK and ornamented with taste; but sometimes they hunt, even LXXVII. during the severest cold, almost entirely naked. It ap

Labrador.

Climate

and soil.

pears that, of all the savages of North America, the Knistenaux have the handsomest women. Their figure is well proportioned, and the regularity of their features would obtain them admiration, even in Europe. Their complexion is not so dark as that of other savage women; because their habits are much more cleanly. These Indians are naturally mild, honest, generous, and hospitable, when the pernicious use of spirituous liquors has not changed their natural disposition. They do not look upon chastity, however, as a virtue, nor do they imagine that conjugal fidelity is at all necessary to the happiness of the married state. Accordingly, they offer their wives to strangers, and exchange them with each other, as Cato is said to have done. The fogs which cover their marshes, are believed to be the spirits of their deceased companions.

The eastern coasts of Hudson's Bay form a part of the peninsula of Labrador. This land, almost of a triangular shape, is bounded on the east by the arm of the sea called Davis's Straits, and on the south by Canada, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Thus detached from the arctic lands, Labrador ought to partake, in some degree, of the nature of the temperate cold regions; but whether it is owing to the elevation of its mountains, with which we are still almost unacquainted, or to the influence of the perpetual fogs that cover the neighbouring seas, it is a country fully as frozen as those to the west of Hudson's Bay. Cartwright assures us that he met with a family of the natives living in a cavern hollowed out of the snow. This extraordinary habitation was seven feet high, ten or twelve in diameter, and was shaped like an oven. A large piece of ice serves as a door. A lamp lighted the inside, in which the inhabitants were lying on skins. At a short distance was a kitchen, likewise constructed of snow. They describe a circle on the frozen

* Cartwright's Journal of Transactions, &c. vol. I. For the construction of these dwellings, see Richardson's Journal, in Franklin, &c.

snow, and cutting it into segments with their knives, BOOK build it up with great regularity, till the blocks of snow LXXVII. meet at the top, and constitute a not ungraceful dome. All' that is known of Labrador is a mass of mountains and of rocks, intersected with innumerable lakes and rivers.* Lake Aschkunipi, which is probably the New Sea of D'Anville's maps, appears to flow both into Hudson's Bay, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. All the waters of this region abound in a remarkable degree with fish; among which are noticed the salmon, trout, pike, eel, and barbel. The bears combine together in numerous herds, to catch the salmon, near the cataracts, where great numbers are stopt in their ascent, and are exceedingly relished by that animal. Some of them plunge into the river, and pursue their prey under water, only re-appearing at the distance of one or two hundred paces, while others, again, more indolent, or less active, appear as if they had come merely to enjoy the spectacle. Beaver, as well as rein-deer, absolutely swarm. The air is milder in the interior of the country, where some appearance of fertility is perceived. According to Curtis, the valleys are covered with pines and pinasters. A great deal of wild Vegetables celery, and many antiscorbutic plants grow there. No bo- mals. tanist has examined this extensive country. But the most extraordinary fact that has been transmitted to us is, that the boggy land on the coast becomes covered with grass, after having been fattened by the carcases of phocae that are cast ashore. This, however, requires further confirmation. The southern parts of Labrador might be cultivated, but it would be difficult to defend the colonists from the bears and wolves, and the cattle could not quit their stable for a longer period than three months in the year. The eastern coast presents nothing but a continued precipice of barren rocky mountains, which are covered in some places with a black turf, and a few stunted plants. It is

Roger Curtis's Particulars of Labrador, in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. LXIV. Part II. p. 188.

and ani

BOOK overspread with fogs, which, however, appear not to conLXXVII. tinue so long as they do in Newfoundland.* Although the greater part of their water is derived from melted snow, goitre is a disease unknown amongst the inhabitants of this region. The eastern coast is covered with thousands of islands, inhabited by aquatic birds, particularly the duck from which the eider down is procured.

The feldspar of

The most celebrated production of this country is the Labrador. feldspar of Labrador, discovered by the Moravian brethren in the middle of the lakes of the elevated district of Kylgapied, where its vivid colours were reflected from the bottom of the water. The rocks are generally granic. The district of Ungawa situated to the west of Cape Chudleigh abounds in red jasper, hematites, and pyrites.

Establishments of

yen.

The Esquimaux have peopled all the northern and castern coasts of this country, and live on fish.

It is amongst these people that the Moravian brethren the Mora- have founded the three settlements of Nain, Okkak, and vian breth- Hoffenthal. Upon their arrival, the Esquimaux were in the habit of putting their orphans and widows to death, to prevent them from being exposed to the risk of dying of hunger. The missionaries, after teaching them a variety of useful arts connected with fishing, built a magazine, in which each of the natives might deposite his superfluous stores, and prevailed upon them to set aside a tenth part for widows and orphans. This is the true way to convert a savage people.

Labrador tribes.

A peculiar tribe inhabits the southern mountains, who have been compared to the Egyptians; but a mixture with the French Canadians effaced their characteristic features before they were examined with sufficient care. This people have adopted the Catholic religion, and live on rein-deer and game. They have received no other name

* De la Trobe's Meteorological Journal. Philosophical Transactions, vol. LXVIII.

+ David Crantz's History of the Moravian Brethren, continued by Hegners p. 125, 139, 321. (Barby, 1791,)

than Mountaineers. Another tribe, called Escopics, inhabit BOOK the western part.

LXXVII.

Icy archi

To the north-east of Hudson's Bay, some arms of the sea, almost perpetually frozen, conceal from us an archipelago of pelago. several large islands, among which are noticed, those named James, Barren, Northmain, Southampton, and Mount Raleigh. To the south, Hudson's Strait separates these islands from Labrador; to the east, Davis's Straits divides them from Greenland; to the south-west, they are washed by the Gulf called Welcome by the English, and Mare Christianeum by the Danish voyager Munk, who was the first to penetrate it; but to the north-west, and north, these lands continued almost absolutely unknown till the splendid discoveries of the English in 1818, 1819, 1820, 1821, 1822, 1823, by the great navigators mentioned at the beginning of this Book ; who, undaunted by the appalling horrors of the elements around them, have penetrated far into the secret, untrodden regions of the pole. Captains James and Fox, who, in the seventeenth century, entered the arm of the sea which separates James, or Cumberland Island (if it be an island), from Southampton Island, and of which Repulse Bay forms one extremity, found all their efforts to advance any farther prove fruitless, in consequence of the fixed ice which, at that period, as well as in the present day, obstructed this channel. The frightful picture of the sufferings to which cold and want of food exposed these navigators, appears to have banished, for a long time, all thoughts of any fresh attempt. Yet such attempts, were they successful, would be deeply interesting to geography, for, it is not improbable that this passage communicates with a sea, in all likelihood, the inland sea descried by Hearne. The perpetual accumulation of ice, between these two islands, in the 65° of latitude, while, on the other hand, it is quite customary to ascend Davis's Straits as far as 72°, and Baffin's Bay, lately, to its northern extremity in 76°; appears to indicate here the opening to an inland sea, or perhaps of a river, which serves as an outlet to extensive lakes.

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