* * * * *




ON BOARD THE JULIA A. DECKER,
OFF BIRD ROCKS,
Gulf of St. Lawrence, Sept. 10, 1891.


While our little vessel is rushing through the blue waters of the
gulf, apparently scorning the efforts of the swift little Halifax
trader who promised to keep us company from the Straits to the Gut,
and who, by dint of good luck and constant attention to sails has thus
far kept her word, but is now steadily falling astern and to leeward,
I will tell you about the snug little harbors, the bold headlands,
barren slopes, and bird-covered rocks, and also the odorous fishing
villages and the kind-hearted people with whom she has made us
acquainted.

The Bowdoin scientific expedition to Labrador is now familiar with six
of the seven wonders in this truly wonderful region. It has visited
Grand Falls and "Bowdoin Canyon;" has been bitten by black flies and
mosquitoes which only Labrador can produce, both in point of quality
and quantity; has wandered through the carriage roads (!) and gardens
of Northwest River and Hopedale; has dug over, mapped and photographed
the prehistoric Eskimo settlements that line the shores, to the north
of Hamilton Inlet; has made itself thoroughly conversant with the
great fishing industry that has made Labrador so valuable, to