LABRADOR rendered on Sept. 21. The French ministry had given orders that no attempt should be made to hold any of the English possessions that were captured, and the victor agreed to accept a ransom for the city of 1,100,000 pa- godas (about 9,500,000 francs) ; but Dupleix, governor general of the French Indies, jealous of Labourdonnais, refused to ratify his act. Labourdonnais was obliged by a storm to put to sea, and Dupleix, declaring void the articles of capitulation signed by him, removed all English property to Pondicherry, and burned the city. Labourdonnais, on his return to the isle of France, found a successor installed in his place by Dupleix. Returning home, he hoped there to receive justice ; but three days after his arrival in Paris, on the night of March 2, 1748, he was seized and thrown into the Bastile, where he lay for three years and a half, ignorant of his accusation and not per- mitted to communicate even with his family. In 1751 a commission appointed by the coun- cil of state pronounced him innocent of all the charges brought against him, and gave him his liberty ; but his spirit was broken^ and his ex- istence during his last years was embittered by poverty and suffering. The government afterward, recognizing the injustice done him, gave his widow a pension of 2,400 livres. In 1859 a statue was erected to him in the isle of Bourbon (now Reunion). His life was writ- ten by his grandson, the actor Bertrand Fran- cois Mahe (8vo, Paris, 1827). LABRADOR, a peninsula of British North America, on the Atlantic coast, between lat. 49 and 63 N., and Ion. 56 and 79 W., com- prising in its fullest sense all that territory bounded N. E. and E. by Hudson strait and the Atlantic ocean, S. E. and S. by the strait of Belle Isle (separating it from Newfound- land), the gulf of St. Lawrence, and the riv- er St. Lawrence, S. W. by the Betsiamites or Bersimis river, Lake Mistassini, and Rupert's river, and W. by Hudson bay ; extreme length E. and W. from the E. entrance of the strait of Belle Isle, 950 m. ; extreme breadth on the 75th meridian, 750 m. ; area, about 450,- 000 sq. m. The E. portion (area about 125,- 000 sq. m.), from Cape Chudleigh (lat. 60 37', Ion. 65) at the E. entrance of Hudson strait to the harbor of Blanc Sablon (lat. 51 25', Ion. 57 9') at the W. entrance of the strait of Belle Isle, embracing the region drain- ing into the Atlantic, belongs to Newfound- land; the remainder forms part of the Do- minion of Canada. The portion (area 53,500 sq. m.) immediately W. of a line drawn N. and S. from Blanc Sablon to the 52d parallel, em- bracing the region draining into the river and gulf of St. Lawrence, forms part of Saguenay co., Quebec ; the residue (much the larger part of the peninsula), comprising the N. and W. portions, which drain into Hudson bay and strait, is included in the Northwest territories. In a restricted sense, Labrador includes only the coast washed by the Atlantic. The set- tled population of the portion belonging to Newfoundland in 1869 was 2,479, of whom 1,803 belonged to the church of England, 483 were Roman Catholics, 165 Wesleyans, and 28 belonged to the Kirk of Scotland. The Que- bec portion in 1871 had 3,597 permanent resi- dents, of whom 1,779 were of French origin or descent, and 1,309 Indians (Montagnais). The settlements are scattered along the shore of the St. Lawrence E. through the strait of Belle Isle to Cape Webuck, just N. of Hamilton inlet. W. of the St. Augustine river French is commonly spoken ; E. of that point, inclu- ding the Newfoundland settlements, English is the ordinary language. The chief occupations are fishing in summer, and hunting and trap- ping fur-bearing animals in winter. There are a few widely separated posts of the Hudson bay company, chiefly near the shores of Hud- son bay and strait. In the interior are wan- dering bands of Nasquapee, Mistassini, and Montagnais Indians, numbering 4,000 or 5,000. The coast N. of Hamilton inlet is occupied by Esquimaux to the number of about 1,500, of whom 1,200 are under the control of the Mo- ravian missionaries, who have four stations here, viz. : Nain (about lat. 56 30'), founded in 1771; Okkak (lat. 57 30'), 1776; Hopeclale (lat. 55 40'), 1782; and Hebron (lat. 58), 1830. Each has a church, store, dwelling for the missionaries, and workshops for the na- tives. A vessel annually visits Nain from Eu- rope, to bring supplies and carry back the furs and other products collected by the natives. The English church has missions in the settle- ments subject to Newfoundland, and in 1853 a church was consecrated at St. Francis harbor. Roman Catholic missions have long existed W. of the strait of Belle Isle. The coasts of Labrador are rugged and forbidding. The chief indentation on the Atlantic is Esquimaux bay or Hamilton inlet (about lat. 54), into the head of which falls the Ashwanipi or Hamil- ton, the largest river of Labrador, and the out- let of a lake of the same name. The princi- pal streams emptying into Hudson bay, com- mencing at the south, are Rupert's river, the outlet of Lake Mistassini, the East Main or Slude river, and the Great and Little Whale. Into Ungava bay, an inlet of Hudson strait, flow the Koksoak or Koniapuscaw and Whale rivers, while the Nasquapee or Northwest riv- er and the Kenamou fall into Hamilton inlet on either side of the Ashwanipi, the former from the north and the latter from the south. Proceeding up the St. Lawrence, the chief rivers that empty into the gulf and river are the St. Augustine, Natashquan, Mingan, St. John, Magpie, Trout, Moisie, and Betsiamites. There are many lakes, formed chiefly by ex- pansions of the rivers. The interior of the country, according to Prof. Hind, is a lofty table land, in many parts thickly strewn with bowlders, and everywhere bleak and sterile. Where the surface is not burned, caribou moss covers the rocks, and stunted spruces, birches,
