Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-08-10
LONE LABRADOR.
A COAST HAUNTED BY sHIPWREcK,
DEATH, AND DISASTER
The Early Basque Sea Rovers Who Dis
covered America 1 900 Years Be-
fore Columbus Sailed.
rcorro.noodencs Pittsburgh DisDatch.l

covered America 900 Years Be-
fore Columbus Sailed.
Correspondence Pittsburgh Dispaich.l
Our steamer passed Bell Isle, that huge
island rock Of loneliness and dissolution
GUARDING the Gulf of Newfoundland. be-
tween Newfoundland and Labrador, just
after the light swept past US from the east
and the sea, and, sailing all day within
sight Of those northern massive walls,
whose vast escarpments Of red, puce. and
gray seemed set ike the bases OF mighty
castles upon an emerald bed, the contem-
plation Of the vastness. mystery, and desc
latiOn Of this most useless and peopleless
portion of America, Labrador, prompted
an impulse 20 At least skim its edges IN
still more leIsurely form Of lettering ana
pilgrimage.
An English tourist was easily persuaded
into Joining me in plan for brief north
ern adventures and, debarklng at kimou-
| ski. we came upon a veteran Yankee lum-
herman with the fever Of exploration
strong on him, and IN less than twenty
| four hours. having found many happenings
10 our liking, were sailing the lower d.
| Lawrence in q snug twO-masted schooner
! Of eighty tons burden, the clean ana clll'-
| per-hke Sophie, manned bv four sturdy
/
! Dor. headed directly for a tiny purple cleft
! between stupendOus headlands, which our
captain. good Monsieur Dcschamps. told
IA was the entrance to deep and silent
/ harbOr Of the grewsOme Labrador shore'
LONELY LAND.
Labrador proper is that almost unknown
| land of unparalleled sterility and loneli-
ness lying between the Gulf OF st. Law
renee. the Atlantic Ocean, and that we'll
nigh lmitless inland sea, HudsOns Bay.
| That portion known TO men IS tho part, OF
the sea-line part We had set forth 10 look
| up0n. II properly consists OF two grand
coast wise divisions. The waters If the hrst
flow from dcsOlate solitudes into the ~.
Lawrence and Gulf, along the immeasura--
! BILE county Of Saguenay, in the Province OF
! Quebec, while those Of the other seek the
/ Atlantic 10 the north of Belle Isle Straits,
along the grandest but most iorbidding
shores OF any land, to where Greenland Is
but q days journey ahead otfavoring g'Ir =;
| On the one hand. all along this iriFhuul
! coast from the lofty rocks OF the Nhgur-
nav. which stand like eternal sentinels oil
/ the st. Lawrence. 10 the bare peaks De
yond the last wretched hut OF Hebron, the
! remOtest of the MOravIau missions ~ Nor
! America. the entire coast line j. one III
terminable reach and record OF human
! peril and suffering, Of fog, iceberg ana
tempest. and of wreck and disaster IN,
| conceivable On the other hand, benlhd
this rugged cOa-t there IS but "a waste 50
barren. so mighty IN it, mmeaeuranlr
solitude Of rock and stream and inland
sea. 20 iudeecribabiy "the land gwen 10
Cain" "a told by Jacques Cartier IN 1854
| that only the Imagination can traverse IL
10 that awful. farthest north whore 81
| lcnce sits frozen at the feet OF GOD.
LEGENDS OF LABRADOR.
And vet there is more than fancy and
legend in the tales our captain told OF oldel
! activities along these shores as we exhlla
ratingly swept these northern waters. lair-
weird and strange they were but INC
warm blood of Basque was IN his own VEINS
and his ewes kindled with the vondrou'
! histories Of Basque advonturcrs hcre ..u'
vpors aoo-histOries which, could they hr
proven. would compel Bancroft and Head.
lev TO rcwrite all their emily pages. and
would sadly dampen the enthusiasm Ion
the proposed Columbus celebration oi
1892. ,,
Briefly this is how the story runs: The
old Iberian race. perhaps race l.OJ0 years
older than the Egyptian, when came IRON
somewhere and overran Europe from the
| Mediterranean 10 the Archangel and Kara
| seas. and finally succumbed 10 other lnva-
sions. blcndings, aud assmilatlons, com
prsed people not only cultivated IN inc
arts but those which gave the world PTS hr5i
AMI greatest navigators and sea-adVent u-
rcrs. All coasts and chmes We're known Ia
Them. The concentrated remnant of TINS
mighty people gave to the Basque provinces
and Brittany their interesting and spirited
folk. From among these, moro tEan ,Cjl
years before Columbus, assisted 10y the
willy though niggardly spirit or spanish
| conquest and domination, made the New
| World subjective to the old, whore those
| Iberian or Basque naWgators, who had
seen every rod of coast limo from Nova
Zembla beyond the bowling maclstrOms of
| Spitzbergen sea. around the Arctic Sptz-
bergen groups. the far Icelaudlc horths,
past Grecnland's 4 600 miles OF Zee ana ST.
| icnce. the eternal ice peaks OF tllesmere
! Land aud Cumberland Island. down be-
| voud the droary reach OF Labrador, all
along the mighty distances of ST. Law
rencc's Gulf and Newfoundland itself past
Prince Edwards and Cape-Breton Islands
md Nova Scotia, 10 that dread mystery
and graveyard Of the sea, sable Island:
where during al those centuries thcy haI
! chased the whale and taken the macHorel
and cod From such as these. humble and
unknown whalcrs and sailors, COLUMBUS
undoubtedly gained ms positive kno"ied
of America. and through IL his immor
tally and fame.
OFF TIE LABRADOB COAST.
Before evening came we were underneath
the shadows Of the towering Labrador
coast. close upon the Seven Islands and
bav. These islands are huge rocky peak
rising preclptOuly from the gus To- lIn-
posing heights. the Great Boule reaching
zoo feet. a few miles 10 the south Nd west
of the Molsic river mouth. The has
behind. in which We anchored tOl
the night, is fully SIX miles long and
two broad. and when once WITHIN
the capacious harbor seems land-iocked
low the islands and vast promontorl
mt its western extremity, the latter reach
ING an elevation OF 700 feet. Two parable,
ranges Of mountains, rocky and dread
their bases covered by dense growths oil
! stunted spruce, rise IN dark aAd uudu-
lafiDg silhOuettes as If 20 render lmpa o.
bic the impenctrable wilderness behind
Sweeping around eastward toward the
Moisie river is long, crcllng, sandy
beach. and along this III the edge OF 10,
stuntod spruce behind. were scattered d
few wild and ragged encampmcnts Of Lab
rador Indians. All looked greasy, lltelcss,
respondent, hopeless.
There was not one picturesque charac
teristic about them save the queer. PIGGY
almond-eved faces of the little children
and an occasional quaint cap of crimson
and black set upon the heads of the luultl
| women from underneath the edec % Wuiti
are puffs of black and wiry hair matted
down between the eyes and ears. These
people perhaps 200 Ia number, and called
The Montaguais. with . few Nasquapecs
are portion of the ragged, starving. fate
whipped remnant of the great Cree branch
OF the once noble Algonquin race. Sever
Islands hav and Noise have Tor centuries
| been their summer rendezvous. Al Noise
are the mission-h0uses, chapel, one OF IN,
dreariest cemeteries your eyes ever beheld
| tradine-hOuscs, salmon fish stations, ana 9
| scragey village alone enllyened 10y these
spiritless Indians, the summertime salmon
curers and traders and the trltling oihcia
life. as the Canadian Government cOmpel
all sailing craft trading along the Labrador
shore to take out their clearances at thl'
point. 1t isa dreary, lifeless, dirty spot
where nothing less alert and pugnaciou'
than oui-saving and trade could brave thu
wretched soddenness and desolatlOn.
SALMON HAUNT.
The mouth Of the Moisie has special In
terest for sportsmen, it being the haunt o.
mvriads of salmon; and fish of from thirtl
10 forty pounds weight have frequently
been taken. The river itself winds through