of joy, dived and rose, and at times
threw the whole of their mighty carcasses right out of water for a
bath in the glorious morning sunshine. The shoals of fish everywhere
breaching the water, and the silver streaks which flashed beneath our
bows as we lazed along, suggested that the whole vast ocean was too
small to hold its riches.

When we realized that practically no man had ever lived there, and few
had even seen it, it seemed to overwhelm us, coming as we did from the
crowded Island of our birth, where notices not to trespass haunted
even the dreams of the average man.

A serried rank of range upon range of hills, reaching north and south
as far as the eye could see from the masthead, was rising above our
horizon behind a very surfeit of islands, bewildering the minds of men
accustomed to our English and North Sea coast-lines.

In a ship just the size of the famous Matthew, we had gone west,
following almost the exact footsteps of the great John Cabot when just
four hundred years before he had fared forth on his famous venture of
discovery. We seemed now almost able to share the exhilaration which
only such experiences can afford the human soul, and the vast
potential resources for the blessing of humanity of this great land
still practically untouched.

At last we came to anchor among many schooners in a wonderful natural
harbour called Domino Run, so named because the Northern fleets all
pass through it on their way North and South. Had we been painted
scarlet, and flown the Black Jack instead of the Red Ensign, we could
not have attracted more attention. Flags of greeting were run up to
all mastheads, and boats from all sides were soon aboard inquiring
into the strange phenomenon. Our object explained, we soon had calls
for a doctor, and it has been the experience of almost every visitor
to the coast from that day to this that he is expected to have a
knowledge of medicine.

[Illustration: Cape Uivuk
THE LABRADOR COAST]

[Illustration: The Tickle Anchorage
THE LABRADOR COAST]

One impression made on my mind that day undoubtedly influenced all my
subsequent actions. Late in the evening, when the rush of visitors was
largely over, I noticed a miserable bunch of boards, serving as a
boat, with only a dab of tar along its seams, lying motionless a
little way from us. In it, sitting silent, was a half-clad,
brown-haired, brown-faced figure. After long hesitation, during which
time I had been