a vast region of North America, nearly of a triangular shape, extending from the fifteenth to the sixty-first degree of north latitude, and from fifty-six to seventy-eight of west longitude. It is bounded on the south by Canada and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the north by Hudson's Straits, and on the west by Hudson's Bay. Being thus detached from the arctic lands, Labrador ought to partake in some degree of the nature of the temperate cold regions; but, from causes which do not appear to be very obvious, it is a country as frozen, desolate, and barren, as those to the west of Hudson's Bay. The coast along that spacious inland sea is called East Main, and the climate there is peculiarly rigorous. The whole surface of Labrador, indeed, is as sterile and naked as any part of the globe. The prevailing features are rocks, swamps, and water; and vegetation appears as the last effort of expiring nature. Small scraggy poplars, stunted firs, creeping birch, and dwarf willows, thinly scattered in the southern parts, constitute the whole of the trees; herbs and grass are also in sheltered places to be met with; but in the most northerly parts only varieties of moss and lichens are to be found. The whole of the interior, from the aspect of what has been explored, and from the reports of the Esquimaux and other Indians, seems to be broken up with rivers, lakes, and rocks. The geological features of the Labrador coast are as follow:—The prevailing rock contiguous to the sea shore is gneiss. On this, at L'Anse à Loup, the most fertile part of the country, a bed of old red sandstone, about two hundred feet thick, is superimposed, and extends about half a mile inland. Here also, as on every other part of the coast visited by the individual from whom our information is derived, the appearances of the cliffs and of the land near them, and the rolled masses inland, which have evidently been exposed to the action of the sea, seem to prove that the latter has considerably receded. The sandstone is generally red and white in alternate strips, and presents a remarkable mural front to the sea. Near the surface it was strongly marked with iron. The whole of the rock was composed of white quartz and yellow felspar; and the grains were generally as fine as oatmeal, though occasionally coarser, even to the extent of half an inch in diameter. Over the red sandstone was a thin stratum of red compact felspar, containing vegetable impressions, and also horizontal. Above this were varieties of secondary limestone arranged in parallel strata several feet thick and full of shells. Detached masses of primitive limestone were also found; and, a few miles from the shore, the secondary formations generally disappeared, leaving gneiss and mica slate on the surface. North of Cape Charles, on the Labrador coast, the land falls back to the westward, and the shore changes its character, becoming shoal, and running off in flats; whereas to the southward it is bold and abrupt. The prevailing rock, however, is still gneiss, containing numerous veins of granite, from a few inches to many feet in thickness, the constituent parts being mica, quartz, and felspar. The diameter and dip of the gneiss rock is here, as elsewhere on the coast, to the northwest, and at an angle of nearly 65°. It is coarse and dark, hornblende taking the place of mica, and frequently very light-grayish felspar forming the chief constituent. Where this occurs, the face of the hill has a remarkably spotted appearance. On one of the islands which here skirt the coast, a large bed of primitive greenstone was found, forming a range of hills resting on the gneiss, and appearing to have the same direction. On the western part of these islands also the gneiss gives place to mica slate, this commencing beyond the above-mentioned range of greenstone, which appears to mark the line of demarcation between them. The mica slate then predominates through all the islands and shores examined to the westward of this point, viz. to the Mealy Mountains, in Sandwich Bay, a distance of about thirty-five miles. In some places crystals of garnet are very abundant in it, and in others considerable beds of granite were found, of a confused appearance, and in which quartz and felspar predominated. The Mealy Mountains are the highest land on this coast, and were computed to be about 1484 feet in height, covered nearly to the top with wood, notwithstanding the severity of the climate. They are of mica slate, with a dark, fine-grained formation of the same, resembling basalt, at their base. The general rock is coarse-grained. At the foot of these mountains were also found beds eight and ten feet thick, and large rolled masses of a remarkable conglomerate rock, of which the basis was composed of grains of mica, quartz, and felspar; and the imbedded masses were large rounded pebbles of quartz, mica slate, felspar, hornblende, granite, and gneiss. The whole was very hard, and elicited sparks of fire under the stroke of the hammer. The imbedded fragments were all water-worn.
The general aspect of different parts of the Labrador coast has been described by the Moravian missionaries, from whom we learn that Nullatarlok Bay, in 59° north latitude, is surrounded by high mountains, which are covered with moss, alder, birch, and various shrubs and plants, the valleys in July being grassy and enamelled with a great variety of flowers. The rocks are slaty, easily splitting into plates of from four to eight feet square. At Nachvak Bay the sea was clear of ice in the middle of July, and the magnificent mountains around afforded to the missionaries a most enchanting prospect. Oppernvik, lying between the sixtieth and sixty-first degrees of north latitude, is not far distant from Cape Chudleigh, where the coast, which was hitherto north, now trends to the south-south-west, embosoming a spacious expanse of water called Ungava Bay. The river Kangertuksoak, in latitude 58° 57' north, is about 140 miles south-south-west of Cape Chudleigh. The estuary of the Koksoak lies in 58° 36' north latitude, at the distance of about 650 miles from the Moravian station Okkak, and is as broad as the Thames at Gravesend. Up the river there is a bay surrounded on all sides by gently rising ground, well wooded with trees of moderate size. For about half a mile a fine slope extends, bounded on each extremity by a hill. The Moravians describe the land as level and dry, watered by rivulets issuing from the
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For this account of the geology of Labrador, we are indebted to a paper by Captain H. Robinson, R.N., published in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, 1834. Labrador woods, in which were found various European plants and flowers, different kinds of shrubs, such as junipers, currants, and the like, and grass and trees in abundance. The missionaries were informed that, further west, no wood grows along the coast. The soil at L'Anse à Loup is rich, and it is much the most eligible part of Labrador for settlers. Corn will not ripen, but serves for green food; and potatoes, cabbages, lettuce, spinach, and early Dutch turnips, do well. There is generally much rain on the whole coast; but now the temperature would appear to be more equable than it was some fifty years ago, if we may trust to the correctness of the reports of navigators. The current always sets to the southward along the coast. The tides rise six feet to the northward, and about four to the southward. The prevailing winds are from west-south-west to north-west. There is less fog than farther south; and the Straits of Belleisle, which separate Newfoundland from Labrador and the continent of America, are never frozen over.
On the coast of Labrador the winter is extremely severe, the thermometer often falling thirty degrees below the freezing point; and although the houses of the Moravian missionaries are heated by large cast-iron stoves, the windows and walls are all the winter covered with ice, and the bed-clothes freeze to the walls. Rum is frozen in the air as rapidly as water, and rectified spirits soon become thick like oil. From December to June the sea is completely frozen over; and so intense is the cold during the winter months, that travelling is sometimes attended with the most painful consequences. The summer months, again, are extremely hot along the coast, the thermometer rising to eighty-six degrees of Fahrenheit, when swarms of mosquitoes infest the air. The climate, however, is not insalubrious; and, notwithstanding all its disadvantages, Labrador is of considerable importance to Great Britain. No country is better provided with large, convenient, and safe harbours, or supplied with better water; and vast multitudes of all those kinds of fish common to the arctic seas abound on the coast. Herrings are very fine and plentiful in August, but there is no weather to cure any kind of fish after the 10th of September. The rivers are frequented by salmon and sea trout; and pike, barbel, eels, river trout, and the like, are likewise found in them. On the numerous islands which are scattered along the east coast, multitudes of cider-ducks and other water-fowl breed. Those of large size have deer, foxes, and hares, upon them. On the continent the wild animals are principally bears, wolves, foxes, and otters; beavers and deer are not numerous, but their furs are remarkably close and beautiful. The birds of the country are the white-tailed eagle, falcons, hawks, and owls of various kinds; raven, white grouse, ptarmigan, spruce-game, whistling curlew, gray plover, various kinds of sand-pipers and other waders; geese, ducks of various sorts, shags, gulls, divers, and some few species of small birds. During the short summer, insects are very numerous, especially in swampy places. In winter they exist in a state of torpidity, from which they are aroused by the solar heat or artificial warmth. The phenomenon of the aurora borealis is uncommonly brilliant in this region, and exercises a very marked influence over the compass.
The exports of Labrador consist of the products of the country, fish, oil, and fur. During the fishing season, from 280 to 300 schooners proceed from Newfoundland to the different fishing stations on the coast, where about 20,000 British subjects are employed for the season. About one third of these vessels make two voyages, loaded with dry fish, back to Newfoundland, during the summer; and several merchant vessels proceed from Labrador with their cargoes direct to Europe, leaving generally full cargoes for the fishing vessels to carry to Newfoundland. A considerable part of the fish of the second voyage is in a green or pickled state, and dried afterwards at Newfoundland. Quebec sends eight or nine vessels to the coast, manned with eighty or one hundred fishermen. Part of the fish caught by them is sent to Europe, and the remainder is carried to Quebec; besides which, they carry annually about £6,000 worth of furs, oil, and salmon to Canada. From one hundred to one hundred and twenty vessels come from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The principal part of their cargoes goes home in a green state. From 16,000 to 18,000 seals are taken at Labrador in the beginning of winter and spring. They are of a very large size, and the winter residents on the coast are said to feast and fatten on their flesh, which, when young, they account excellent eating. About 4000 of these seals are killed by the Esquimaux. The whole number caught produce about 350 tons of oil, the value of which may be about £8,000. One third of the resident inhabitants are British servants, who take charge of the property left, and likewise employ themselves, in the spring and fall, catching seals. The other two thirds live constantly at Labrador, and act in the capacity of furriers and seal catchers on their own account, but chiefly as the former during the winter; in summer all are engaged in the fisheries. Half of these individuals are Jerseymen and Canadians, most of whom have families. There are six or seven English houses, and four or five Jersey houses, established at Labrador, unconnected with Newfoundland, who export their oil and fish directly to Europe. The quantity exported to the Mediterranean in 1820 was about
| Item | Quantity | Value | |-------------------------------|---------------|---------| | 50,000 quintals cod fish, at 10s | L25,000 | | 900 tierces salmon, at 60s | 2,700 | | To England, about 200 tons cod oil | 4,000 | | 200 do. seal do. | 1,500 | | Furs | 3,000 | | | L39,200 |
By Newfoundland houses, 20,000 quintals cod fish, at 10s | 10,000 | 300 tierces salmon, at 60s | 900 | Total direct export from Labrador | L50,100 |
Produce sent direct to Newfoundland from Labrador:
| Item | Quantity | Value | |-------------------------------|---------------|---------| | 24,000 quintals cod fish, 9s, best quality | 10,800 | | 300,000 quintals cod fish | 127,500 | | 1500 tuns cod oil, at L18 | 27,000 | | Salmon, &c. | 3,000 | | Fish, &c. sent to Canada, about | 10,000 | | Ditto carried to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, should be in value at least | 50,000 |
Estimated value of the produce of Labrador, exclusive of what the Moravians send to London | L278,400 |
The Labrador fishery has, since 1814, increased more than sixfold, principally in consequence of our fisher-
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*These statements are made at the most depressed prices, and not at the average prices, which would increase the gross value to L312,400. The Americans of the United States had, in 1829, about 500 vessels and 15,000 men employed on the coast, and their "catch" amounted to 1,160,000 quintals of fish, and about 3000 tuns of oil; value altogether, about L610,000.* This vast country, equal in square miles to France, Spain, and Germany, has not a resident population exceeding 4000 inhabitants, including the natives and Moravians. The latter, an excellent and truly Christian people, have several settlements on this stern, inhospitable shore; and nothing but the purest spirit of religion and philanthropy could induce them to remain, and zealously labour to enlighten the miserable and disgusting native population. The principal station is at Nain, on the north shore, where a ship annually arrives from London in July, laden with provisions and other necessaries. At Nain there are four missionaries, at Okkak three missionaries, at Hebron five missionaries, and at Hopedale four missionaries. The total number of brethren is twenty-nine; and there are 895 Esquimaux converts to Christianity, of whom about 320 are communicants. These Moravians appear to have come from Greenland about the middle of the last century, in the prosecution of their pious undertaking to enlighten the heathen. Their habits and mode of life are simple and quiet, corresponding to their isolated condition. Their trade is wholly with the Esquimaux, with whom they barter coarse cloths, powder, shot, guns, and edge-tools, for furs, oils, and other articles, the produce of the country. The Esquimaux, the most filthy and disgusting tribe yet discovered on the shores of America, are thinly scattered along the coast of Labrador. The greatest number of them in any one place appears to be at Invatoke Inlet, or Esquimaux Bay, on the Atlantic coast of Labrador, where there are about two hundred and fifty. (For a description of the Esquimaux, see the article GREENLAND.) The Canadians and others residing at Labrador employ these people in catching fish, and the like. Labrador belongs to the government of Newfoundland. During summer there is a court held, from which appeals are made to the supreme court of St John's. An armed vessel visits, and continues generally along the coast, during the greater part of the fishing season.