Bowdoin Boys in Labrador: An Account of the Bowdoin College Scientific Expedition to Labrador led by Prof. Leslie A. Lee of the Biological DepartmentCilley, Jonathan Prince
History
Bowdoin Boys in Labrador: An Account of the Bowdoin College Scientific Expedition to Labrador led by Prof. Leslie A. Lee of the Biological Department
Cilley, Jonathan Prince
Labrador (N.L.) -- Description and travel; Scientific expeditions
It was a great sacrifice of Smith's personal desires, to be one of the
re-discoverers of the falls, to the interests of the expedition, and
it involved a great deal of hard work, for, after paddling and rowing
all day, he had to build and break camp every night and morning, as
Young's hand grew steadily worse and was all he could attend to. At
the mouth of the river, which was reached in shorter time than was
expected, and without accident, Young obtained some relief from
applications of spruce gum to his hand by Joe Michelini, a trapper and
hunter, famous for his skill in all Labrador. Northwest River was
reached the following day, and after a few days of rest for Smith,
during which time Young's injury began to mend also under the
influences of rest and shelter, they hired a small schooner boat to
take them to Rigolette. On the passage they were struck by a squall in
the night, nearly swamped, and compelled to cut the Rushton boat
adrift in order to save themselves. The next day they searched the
leeward shore of the lake in vain, and had to go on without her,
arriving at Rigolette without further accident, and had been there
about a week when we arrived. The boat was picked up later in a badly
damaged condition, and given to the finder.
While Young outlined his experience we hunted up Smith, who had been
making himself useful as a clerk to the factor at the Post, Mr. Bell,
and all went on board the Julia as soon as she arrived, to report and
relieve in a measure the anxiety of the professor and the boys.
[Anxious waiting] The day appointed for meeting the river party was
the day on which we reached Rigolette, August 25th, and so a sharp
lookout was kept for the two remaining members of the party, on whom,
now, the failure or success of that part of the expedition rested. As
they did not appear, we moved up to a cove near Eskimo Island, at the
eastern end of Lake Melville, the following day, and there spent four
days of anxious waiting. Some dredging and geological work was done,
and an attempt was made to examine more carefully the remains of the
Eskimo village before referred to on Eskimo Island, which some
investigators had thought the remains of a Norse settlement. The turf
was too tough to break through without a plow, and we had to give it
up, doing just enough to satisfy ourselves that the remains were
purely Eskimo.
All the work attempted was done in a half-hearted manner, for our
thoughts were with Cary and Cole, and as the days went by and they did
not appear, but were more and more overdue, our suspense became almost
unbearable. Added to this was the thought that we could wait but a few
days more at the longest, without running the danger of being
imprisoned all winter, and for that we were poorly prepared.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account