Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-05

varied; and the way in which wild berries
of all sorts grow is truly astonishing.
saw strawberry patches acres in extent: in
other places, as far as the eye could see, the
ground was covered with a species of cram
berry, which grows on a trailing vine and
which Is peculiar to Labrador. Elsewhere
red currant. BURBERRY and gooseberry
bushes filed whole valleys; and as for wild
raspberries, they were as plentiful as the
wild Strawberries. These berries We ate
freely of, as do the Indians; and in addition
l had several meals of two kinds of MOSES,
my guides roasting the long caribou moss,
and boiling to jelly a scale-like moss
which clingS tightly to the rocks
when an Indian goes into the interior
to trap CT to hunt he does not load himself
down with provisions; he takes along a
supply of pemmican simply and supple
ments this food with the MOSES in winter
and the moses and berries in summer, as
well as with the game that falls to his gun,
or the fish he catches often through the
ice, in the streams along which he usually
travels.
"Subssting in this manner many an In
dian trapper and hunter has travelled from
the shores of Ungava, 1000 miles north, to
the shore OF southern Labrador. But woe
to the white person who ever undertakes
such a trip with Indian who has not
made the journey; except for a short dis
lance beyond Quebec. there Is not a mile
of road in all Labrador. and only eye
experienced in the subtlest woodcraft can
pick up what goes by the name of trail in
the interior. A Labrador trail is not a
more or less family marked footpath wind
ing in and out among the rocks. Many a
time when my guides told me we were on a
trail looked about me for evidences of it,
but saw none before my feet either in the
forests or the monotonous, boulder
strewn tops of the plateaus.
Queer Native Beliefs.
'These Labrador Indians-especially the
Naskopies-are among the most primitive
aborigines we have on the continent today;
and, moreover, they have kept their blood
free of a white strain, with the exception of
a few Montaignies along the coast. who
have intermarried of late years. Their Gus
toms and folk lore are likewise free of civil
lizations faint. But it was hard work at
first to get them to talk. However, by be-
Ing patient, and telling them of myself and
living their life, generally managed to Sc
| cure their confidence, and then 1 would
learn their beliefs and traditions.
They are very fond of telling stories OF
their Messiah, Glossip by name He lives
on an island all covered with snow, in the
region where the northern light is born
This island is always surrounded by wall
of mist, through which no Indian who /.
not good can penetrate when he dies; and
| luI IHeTiHOGt, b!OSSlp ) ABODE is guarded I'M
ceasingly by numerous wise seals and
speaking whales When man dies and his
spirit travels to this island, It is met by
one Of the finfy guardians, and if the spir-
| It's owner was good man on earth, then
the animal points the way through the
seemingly unbroken wall of mist to the feet
of Glossip, who in turn shows the spirit the
trail to the happy hunting grounds.
My camera the Indians called a magic
machinc, and my phonograph singing ma
| pI,i l..a.N T
| held l must be magician, and made me
| one, in fact, comforting upon me the three
| sevens-their symbols of a magician.
According to these Indians in order
| TO know thing well you must know seven
| things about it. You must know the north
| of it, the south of it, the east of It, the
| west of it. the up-above of it. the down
| below of 1t and the center of it. If you
| know these seven things about thing, ther
you know all about it. Then, if you know
| all about yourself, all about this world and
| all about the invisible world, you know al
| things and are magician. And because
| possessed a camera and a phonogra phi
/ these simple souls credited me with know
| ing all things, and gave me the creates
| honor that they could confer.
| Song of the Aurora.
| IT also accomplished my object of view
| Ing and studying the aurora borealis on tn,
| line of the aurora. This line. roughly
|
Iceland. Norway, the mouth of the Lens
| river Alaska and Canada. to and through
the center of Hudson bay to southern Lab
rador. 1t is along this line that the auror;
| is seen at It's greatest intensity, and I be
held both the curtain and the fan aurora
| from the highest ridge of the secondar,
| height of land.
| ITO me this was the most wonderful par
! of my experiences for l distinctly hear,
20 lr1 tyx-n IL
| When the color came up in waves l hear,
| a humming noise like that produced b,
striking stringed instruments, and whel
| the great spears of fire appeared distinct
ly heard cracking sound / could hay
stayed for days on the top of the ridg,
drinking in the wonderful sounds an,
sight.
Il had hoped to be able to penetrat,
| further into the interior than / did. Blu
one day Na-pi-sh, on catching a rabbit
| observed that its ears were almost whit,
and the body was becoming streaked will
| white.
| 'Kabibonoca (the cold CHIEF Is comm,
I down. he said, simply, for he knew tina
| the rabbit, because of its changing coat
| had come from the north, where the winter
| had already appeared. So the next day
| we started toward the coast which WI
! reached by going down the Manitou ant
| Mingan rivers taking a trail across lake.
| and boggs and boulder-strewn country t
| the Manitou river, which Is tributary t
the Mingan The cold weather followed u.
| steadily down stream. and by the time W,
| had reached Mingan. where we had lief
| civilization behind sixty days before. tn,
| leaves had fallen, and few days later tn,
| rivers were frozen solid. We had started
on the return journey in the nick of time.
Wrecked Coming Home.
AT Mingan / took the steamer for Que
bee. We were two hours out of the harbo
when violent storm struck US. For tw