while it was wide, it was so shallow and swift that he was sure it
would not admit of canoeing. He could not tell its source, and was
sure the Indians had never travelled on it. In answer to Hubbard's
inquiries as to the probability of our getting fish and game,
Donald said there were bears along the Nascaupee, but few other
animals. He had never fished the waters above Grand Lake, but
believed plenty of fish were there. On Seal Lake there was a
"chance" seal, and he had taken an occasional shot at them, but
they were very wild and he had never been able to kill any.

Strange as it may seem, none of the men with whom we talked
mentioned that more than one river flowed into Grand Lake, although
they unquestionably knew that such was the case. Their silence
about this important particular was probably due to the fact, that
while the Labrador people are friendly to strangers, they are
somewhat shy and rarely volunteer information, contenting
themselves, for the most part, with simple answers to direct
questions. Furthermore, they are seldom able to adopt a point of
view different from their own, and thus are unable to realise the
amount of guidance a stranger in their country needs. In fact I
discovered later that Skipper Blake and his son, who have spent all
their lives in the vicinity of Hamilton Inlet, never dreamed anyone
could miss the mouth of the Nascaupee River, as they themselves
knew so well how to find it.

We were sitting in the office of the post on Sunday, comfortably
away from the fog that lay thick outside, when we were startled by
a steamship whistle. Out we all ran, and there, in the act of
dropping her anchor, was the Pelican, the company's ship from
England. In the heavy fog she had stolen in and whistled before