The Moravians in Labrador | Page 3

Ungava Bay; on the east by the northern ocean;
on the south by Canada and the Gulph of St Lawrence; and on the west
by Hudson's and James' Bay, which last coast, by a kind of anomaly in
nomenclature, has been called the East Main, from its situation to that
great inland sea.
The German geographers do not appear to doubt, what some of our
own have called in question, that the discovery and the name of this
Peninsula, at least of its eastern shores, were owing to the Portuguese,
Gaspar Cortereal, who, in the years 1500 and 1501, in an expedition
fitted by the king to discover a western passage to India, reached the
coast of Newfoundland about the 50th deg. N.L., and sailed northward
to nearly the entrance into Hudson's Bay. This tract of country was
originally called after its discoverer, Terra Cortereali, a name since
superseded by that of Terra de Labrador--the land capable of
cultivation. Davis Straits, here about one hundred miles broad,
separates it from Greenland, whose southernmost point, Cape Farewell,
lies in the same degree of latitude, [60 N.L.] with Cape Chudleigh, the
northernmost extremity of Labrador. The Straits of Bellisle run
between it and Newfoundland. The land along the shore is abrupt and
precipitous, indented with many little creeks and vallies, surrounded by
innumerable islands, and rendered extremely dangerous of access from
the multitude of sunken rocks. The interior is mountainous, intersected
by marshes, and abounding with streamlets and lakes.
Detached from the Arctic lands, this country ought to partake in some
degree of the temperate cold regions, but whether owing to the
elevation of its mountains, or the influence of the perpetual fogs that
cover the neighbouring seas, it is as frozen a region as those to the west
of Hudson's Bay; and though it lies some degrees farther south than
Greenland, yet the cold during the long winter is far more severe, the
thermometer being frequently 32° below 0° of Fahrenheit. Perhaps the

immense quantity of drift ice which accumulates on the eastern shores,
and which extends for so many miles out to sea, may have some
influence on the temperature of the climate. The summer, on the other
hand, during the short time that it lasts, is proportionally warmer, the
thermometer rising from 70° to 80° above 0. Vegetation then proceeds
with uncommon rapidity; the shrubs and plants expand as if by
enchantment; and the country assumes the luxuriance and beauty of a
European summer. Forests of pine and larch are scattered over the
country, the trees of sufficient size to be used in building, or to be sawn
into boards; there are also willows, birch, aspen, and alder, in
considerable quantities.
The land animals are the same as those in Greenland. The rein-deer,
this beautiful and useful creature, is found in considerable herds, but
has not hitherto been domesticated, being only hunted for its flesh,
which makes an agreeable variety of food; and its skin, which is an
elegant and necessary article of clothing, as the fur is always richer in
proportion to the intensity of the cold, against which it forms an
excellent defence; they are hunted with dogs, and formerly used to be
easily killed with the bow and arrow, but the introduction of fire arms
has proved much more destructive. When hard-pressed, they soon take
to the water, and swim so well that a four oared boat can scarcely come
up with them, but an Esquimaux in his kaiak more readily overtakes
them. Hares are tolerably plenty. The Arctic fox also is numerous; their
skins are used for the purposes of commerce, and their flesh is
esteemed preferable to that of the hare. Black bears are frequently
killed, and are relished as food by the Esquimaux. But the most
formidable among the tribes of these regions is the Polar bear, whose
ferocity and courage render him an object of terror even to the well
armed European. The dog is the most useful of the quadrupeds to the
Esquimaux; he bears a strong resemblance to the wolf; is in height
about the size of the Newfoundland, and is well furnished with a thick
hairy coat, peculiarly adapted to the climate. As a hunter, his scent can
trace the seal or the rein-deer at a considerable distance, and he does
not dread, when in packs, to attack even the white bear itself. His chief
value, however, consists in his qualities as a draught animal; for this he
is carefully trained from his infancy, and undergoes severe and frequent

floggings to break him regularly into the team. He becomes then
remarkably submissive, comes at his master's call, and allows himself
quietly to be harnessed to the sledge. In fastening them care is taken not
to let them go abreast: they are