Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1886-10-14
A TOUR IN LABRADOR.
The Reports of Starvation and Cam
nfbalism Imaginary, but tho
People Very Poor.


route of our intended tour, writes ST.
Johns, Newfoundland, correspondent
Of The New York World. Having Wis.
tied largo portion Of the ground that
figures in these scenes of reported suf-
fering and death, can give facts that
will diaprove the fictitious stories that
have been extensively circulated in
England and in the United States.
Having left New York last June for Q
cruise around the island of Newfound-
land and along the Atlantic coast Of
Labrador, we proceeded northward
after a few days stay in St. Johns
Cape Bauld, the most northern ex-
treme of Newfoundland, was sighted
July IS. wa passed westward through
the straits Of Belle Isle as far rs Blanc
Sablon, near the boundary Of Canadian
and Newfoundland and Labrador. The
following day, having retraced our
course through the straits, we made
Battle harbor, known as the Boston
of Labrador" From that point the
course of our vessel, the Hercules, lay
along the line of the fishing settle
ments, and amid the floating craft that
constitute Labrador summer resort"
for persons who depend for a lIveli-
hood upon the inhabitants Of the sea.
Scores of harbors were visited. We
talked with hundreds of the fishermen
and fisherwomen. asking, How is fish
down the shore?" and the various re-
plies to the qGery formed the chief
topic of conversation. No hint of
restitution, no reports Of starvation
was cited. So it was when the news
papers reached us we were amused and
and surprised.
With the mercury at an average
temperature of AZ degrees Fahrenheit
we could not credit the reports Of death
from cold. Wolves and bears were
unknown quantities as far as our knowl-
edge was concerned. Although the
weather was reported as intensely cold,
the temperature being as low as zero
during the first days of July, we had
experienced mono Of its rigor. When
off the northern portion Of the New
foundland coast we had passed numer-
GUS icebergs. We had seen but few or
no fields of floating ice on Labrador,
Notwithstanding the assertion that from
Cape Baud, Newfoundland, to Cape
Mugford, Labrador, there is one "solid
barrier of ice, and that frost is not yet
out OF the ground"
We found all along the shore a pro-
fusion of beautiful lichens, wild flowers,
and berries, with which Labrador
abounds. At the posts of the Hudson
Bay company and at the Moravian mis-
sion stations there were well-progress-
ed flower and vegetable gardens, from
which latter we Jared sumptuously ev-
cry day dafihg our stay.
Of the dreadful snow-storm reported
to have occurred early in July we neith-
er saw nor heard any traces. The
'ponies" that were mentioned as hay
ing been used first to draw sledges and
convey Vanishing families from Sand
witch bay and Indian harbor and then
consumed for food are mythical. No
member of the equine tribe has ever
been seen upon Labrador.
The reports of suffering name the
inhabitants of Main, the headquarters
of the Moravian mission. and Hope
dale, one of the other stations, as
particularly destitute and largely de-
populated by wild beasts and the hor-
rors of cannibalism. At these towns
we remained two weeks. No past s.
turbance by sickness, no death, no
want for necessities nor for comfort
existed The prospects for a peaceful
winter are bright.
The resident population OF Atlantic
Labrador is about four thousand.
Report says that "thirty-iive hundred
have died or have been eaten by wild
beasts or by their fellow-creatures."
Hence that region would be nearly
depopulated were the stories other than
gigantic fabricstions..
Mountaineers, or Nascopie Indians,
living inland, brought no accounts of
suffering TO residents of the shore;
neither did Protestant or Roman Catho-
lie missionaries to these tribes, with
whom we had conversation. know Of any,
although the sensational statement
places the number of victims at one thou
sand, the dead being used for food by
their surviving companions. A mis-
sionary to the Nascopies, who has
travelled five hundred miles into the
interior and known them thoroughly,
laughed at the newspaper stories and
assured US of their entire falsity: He
said that diirihg last January one fam
lily in his mission, consisting of six per-
sons, persisted from hunger, but he
knew of no similar case.
During our stay at Hopedale the
mission ship arrived: This vessel; to-
gether With the Cleaner; annually WIS.,
its the six Moravian stations on Labra-
dor, bringing sufficient supplies to last
the missionaries twelve months Hear
ing rumors of the ice-felds in the
north, we questioned the commander
of the Harmony regarding the subject.
He assured us that he had met no field
ice and but few bergs. He had never
experienced more quiet or successful
voyage, this being his twenty seventh
TO Labrador from England. The sea
was calm. the temperature was mild,
and the trip made in unusually short
time. His reports, together with those
of his missionary passengers, disproye
the accouts of Immense masses of Arc
.ic ice along the coast, solid to depth
of one hundred feet and snow oiled
mountain high, with the mercury IS
degrees below zero" During our stay
in Hopedale the mercury averaged So