Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1912-03-01
an NORTHERN LABRADOR"
William Brooks Cabot, Formerly Of
Brattleboro, Of Exceptional Interest.

I'm Northern Labrador" by william
Brooks Cabot, is a book of exceptionally
interesting personal experiences in that
almost unknown country, which has just
been published by Richard G.. Badger of
Boston. 1t is illustrated with rs photo
graphs taken by the author, which make
a rema rka bic collection, contains over
300 pages and is bound in a substantial
way in red library buckram with gilt
top person having any fondness for
outdoor life cannot fail to be interested
in It, Mr.. Cabot, who is native Brattle-
borean, has made IL trips to Labrador
in the past IL years, and this book may
well be regarded as the accomplishment
of a life purpose. No white man before
him penetrated so far into the interior
of this great barren land, his interior
travels covering some thousands of miles.
For many months he had native Indians
rs companions, acquiring a comprehensive
knowledge of their language He has
written his own book, which can be said
of but few who have given the world
glimpses of Labrador, and being a man of
intellectual attachments the pages have
a rare fascination.
Interior Labrador is unavailable for
most purposes and is an utter wilder
ness, but it's name" the author says,
lis worse than it deserves. The peninsula
is seldom cold in summer and If its
more widely known as a field of travel;
and also, from its great extent, as a
nearly ineXhaustible one The last ice
cap ground away the rocks, already old,
to their hard unweathering base; and
upon this foundation soil makes but slow
ly. If there were enough soil almost the
whole ia bleland would be forested high. y
In 1903 Mr. Cabot went north on the
same vessel with Leonidas Hubbard and
Dillon Wallace and considered joining
them on their venture, but decided to
take a trip by himself. Hubbard lost
his life by starvation. In regard to the
criticism of Hubbards course Mr.. Cabot
says: Let him who has lived as long
as Hubbard did on desolate country,
who has kept as high a spirit, cast the
first stone! Most of us minor wanderers
who have been many times out have to
thank fortune rather than our wits that
some unforgotten day or night was not
our last"
Because of its isolation Labrador
probably will be known as the last of the
fur countries, and the supply is practical
ly inexhaustible. 1t is the lakes and the
unfished rivers and the white moss hills
that have appealed to Mr.. Cabot Prim-
tive hunter life remains unchanged there,
and Indians and Eskimo wander at will
over the vast territory, supreme in their
own unwritten code of laws. They have
Mr. Cabot says, although white influence
al the shores has ended the fighting.
There is no doubt that man for man,
with the primitive weapons, the Eskimo
was at no disadvantage; but the Indians
acquired guns first and gradually forced
the shore dwellers' out of the Gulf of St.
Lawrence and to the north" The in
dvidual Indians are peaceable enough at
the shore, the author writes, but a shore
person hunting alone at a distance inland
might be made uncomfortable if dis
covered. A wealth of experience and ad-
venture is related in in Northern Lab
rador," which makes it very entertaining,
besides being authoritative. The book
may be obtained through Clapp e Jones,
Brattleboro, for $3.50 net.
Mr. Cabot is son of Mr.. and Mrs.
Norman F. Cabot of Brattleboro. His
early life was spent here and after COM
pleting his course in the high school he
attended the Sheffield scientific depart
ment a Yale anniversary and Rensselaer,
Polytechnic Institute in Troy, n. Y, was
in the West and other sections of the
country in the capacity of civil engineer
and for the past 90 years or more he has
lived in and around Boston Formerly he
was a member of widely-known firm
of contracting engineers, but retired from
the business about three years ago.