Evening star., 1924-08-29
IN TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT
BY PAUL y. COLLINS

Welcome to our Continent" is the
as the heroes of the world fight land
upon the shore of the continental
mainland-La
They started from Santa Monica.
Calf. March Il, and have expert
enced the most remarkable adven-
lures since Columbus sought the
western passage TO Cathay and Mace
Elan fanked South America and en-
tered the great Pacific. There were
four crews of two men each: one
bumped into a mountain in the Aleu-
tian Islands, and then there were
three. Three crews went swinging
through the skies: one machine was
totally disa abled before reaching Ice
land. and then there were two. hieut.
Wade and his mechanic, whose ma
chine was damaged through no fault
of theirs, will rejoin the flyers at In
dian Harbor. Labrador. With a new
machine they will continue the jour
ney across the American continentO
But Lieuts. Lowell II. Smith and
Eric Nelson, with their mechanics,
have nearly encircled the globe in a
i tour already nearing 10000 miles.
They have spanned the oceans, have
touched at Japan and China. have
traversed the tropics of India and
crossed the mountains of Asia. They
have seen the old civilizations of the
Far East and the Near East and the
distracted nations of Europe which
so recently struggled in world war.
They have trailed the uncertain ex-
plorationS of a thousand or fifteen
hundred years ago through Iceland
and Greenland (Vinland) and have
come at last to the home continent
upon the terra firma of Labrador.
What welcome do they find on that
bleak coast? 1t is hardly fair for
them to knock at our back door and
expect the same welcome" upon the
doormat as if they had approached a
more conventional entrance.
Travellers who have ventured into
Labrador tell us that it is the most
dismal country on earth-a country
with no soil except along the valleys
of rivers; region Of bleak fiat rocks
which geologists classify as archaic
SCARED with the marks of glacial and
land slides, swept bare by storms,
covered deep with snow and ice nine
months of the year, and with a tenn
perature sometimes too bitter for
mere mercury to record. There is
less known about the Labrador PENN
sula than of any other region upon
earth. Few persons could answer
quickly as to its boundaries or its
government.
Labrador Peninsula extends from
the Atlantic Ocean to Hudson Bay
and from the Gulf Of st. Lawrence to
Hudson Strait. One-half of it has
never been explored and more than
three-fourths of it is in dispute as to
whether it belongs to Canada or New
foundland. Newfoundland is not a
part of Canada, but an Independent
province of Great Brittany. Accord
| ing to the Canadian government, the
territory of Labrador under New
foundland jurisdiction extends only
about so miles along the Atlantic
coast, and to record that contention
Canada has issued a map showing in
red all the rest of the vast peninsula
an area of $4,000 square miles-as
| belonging to Canada. Newfoundland
has retaliated by a map Indicating in
| bright green thta her Labrador ex-
tends over nearly the entire penin-
sula. The century-old dispute will be
settled some day in England, but the
utter barrenness of the land prevents
either party from growing excited
| over it.
The entire peninsula has popula-
Eskimos-of which total the sec
! ton along the Atlantic coast ac-
credited to Newfoundland jurisdiction
has 1000, nearly all Of whom are de-
pendent upon fishing. The Eskimos
were said to be among the. most saw
| age people on earth two centuries
| ago, but today, thanks to the mis-
| sionaries, all have been converted to
Christianity and live in friendly rela-
| tions with the whites.
Nowhere is there a more outstand-
| ing character than that of Dr. Gren-
fell, the English medical missionary
who has spent more than 80 years
upon that bleak coast-the only sur
| geon in the entire region. DR.. Gren-
| fell has learned to look on the bright
side, even of Labrador. He says:
| THE climate of Labrador Is not
| exceIled anywhere in the world for