New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1885-11-18

then go boutclubblngth RseaS- They
soon return to the shore with blubber
and hides, which they bury under
snow for keeping. until a trading
schooner calls. Sometimes the wind
or the current suddenly loosens the
ice and carries it out to sea and
the sport is then quite perilous. The
netting of seals is not unlike the tax
ing of fish in nets. A strong net may
be moored off favorable point or in
q channel, or several nets are COM
blned and moored to form a kind of
pound. At La Tabatiere Cape Mecca
tina, a noted resort of seals, the COM
blnatiOn OF net measures about seven
hundred fathoms: When seals are
abundant, several hundreds and even
thousands were taken there in q sea-
son. In q favorable cove net may
be sunk on the bottom until the seals
enter; then it is raised with a windlass
to close the entrance, and the men in
the boats row about the bay and
drive the seals, into the meshes.
The ocean sealing is the most cost
~ and productive method. Powerful
steamers, bsilt expressly for this
work, and manned by 200 to 800
men, are sent out every year from St.
Johns, Newfoundland, and Dundee,
Scotland. The sealing fleet of Esqui-
maux Point and Natashquan num-
bers about forty small schooners. In
1881 they took 10000 seals, but in
1882 only 5000. The strength of
these vessels is remarkable. The one
saw building at Esquimaux Point
had timbers IL inches square laid in
solid, and bolted one to the other,
and the bow was mass of beams and
braces. The oil is tried out in fur
naces along the beach; the hides are
sent to London for tanning.
The social season of Labrador is the
winter. There is no fishing then to
keep people at home; cutting wood
and little hunting are the on
| ly occupations. Winter lasts about
eight months; when the channels
among the islands and the bays
are frozen over, dog teams can
run up and down the coast for 800
miles-from Mingan to Bonnie Esper.
ance. People then go visiting; they
carry no provisions, for everybody
keeps open house, and the little cabins
are often packed with people and dogs.
The winter homes, as a rule, are back
some miles from the coast, where
wood is handy. Several families who
fish at Whale Head live on swamp
in winter, where the tread of a man
along the street shakes every house.
The Able Ferland says that in his
time-about fifty years ago-the hos
pitality of the coast was such that the
people on going away from home used
to leave food, and sometimes even
money, on the table, and the doors
unlocked, that needy travellers might
enter and help themselves. But the
advent of more travellers in these days
has led to more caution and less gen
erosity.
| It is not surprising to find all sea
men superstitious; the irresistible and
whimsical forces of the ocean must ap
pear to them supernatural, and Their
changing fortunes must often seem the
result of some unfathomablem mystery
1 Could events SO supernatural as those
told by the Ancient Mariner be so ap
propriate to landsman. These fish
ermen are not behind other sea-farins
men in either the number of their super
stitions or the faith they repose II
them. But Labrador, in time, viii
doubtless produce more ASTONISHING
results in this regard; for what Other
region on earth offers such elemental
powers, such weird scenes, such i'm
pressive hardships and horrors? Here
is region without mile of road il
5000 miles ofcoast; I never elsewher,
appreciated a wheel and horseshoe
Some of these people have no idea o
the shape and size OF a COW or horse
and they flee like hares at the comm!
of u stranger. Ihave stated elsewher'
that lawlessness often prevails, ant
that those who are in need do moi
hesitate to break open stores and hell
themselves. But their most astonish
| ing traits are laziness and improvi
dence here in sight of heart-rendint
hardship and want. Labrador, how
ever, was formerly q sea OF plenty
fishing, sealing, trapping, gave even tn
| indolent sure, though a miserable
living. In few weeks the averag
man could catch fish enough to ex
change with traders fer the neces
saries of life- This enabled him tt
idle away three-fourths OF the year
and relieved him of any sense of re
sponsibility. But now fish, oil an6
fur are no longer so abundant. Thu
average family spends about $1Oope7
year to get only the absolute neces
stiles OF life; and yet the government
is obliged very often to distribut,
flour and pork to prevent actua
starvation; and it offers free passage
and work to those who will leave tht
coast. The lazy depend upon the in
dustrious, the provisions are shared
and if navigation is tardy, the frs
| sail is watched for in the spring Will
eagerness.-C. III. Farnham, in Har
per's Magazine for October.
Ben Wade's Strong Prayer.
/ A story told me by Senator Hender
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