Page:An account of a savage girl.djvu/89

No. VII.

EXTRACT from the account of the Baron La Hontan, a French officer, who travelled over all the north of Canada, betwixt the years 1683 and 1694, P. 6. &c. Of the Esquimaux.

THE source of the river St. Laurence, &c. This river is about 20 or 22 leagues broad at its mouth, &c. On one side stands L'Isle Percée, which is a great rock, pierced through and through——The Biscayans and Normans, in time of peace, fish there for cod, &c. On the other side of the river appears the large country of Labrador, or of the Esquimaux, a nation so barbarous and wild, that it has never been possible to civilize them. The Danes were the first who discovered this nation.———The country is full of harbours and bays, into which the trading vessels of Quebec go in summer to traffic for the seals skins brought them by the savages. The traffic is carried on in this manner.

Whenever our ships have cast anchor, the savages come about them in small canoes made

of