Labrador: its discovery, exploration, and development . leafter being sprinkled with holy water. The French, when they began their settlementsalong the coast about 1702, found the Eskimos inconsiderable numbers in the Gulf of St. Lawrence,even as far west as Anticosti. Tradition tells of aseries of battles between the Montagnais, assisted bythe French, and the Eskimos, in which the Eskimoswere continually defeated and driven back to theAtlantic coast. Pointe des Monts is said to havebeen the theatre of one of these fights, and Old FortBridge another. Quite recently evidences of battlehave been
Labrador: its discovery, exploration, and development . leafter being sprinkled with holy water. The French, when they began their settlementsalong the coast about 1702, found the Eskimos inconsiderable numbers in the Gulf of St. Lawrence,even as far west as Anticosti. Tradition tells of aseries of battles between the Montagnais, assisted bythe French, and the Eskimos, in which the Eskimoswere continually defeated and driven back to theAtlantic coast. Pointe des Monts is said to havebeen the theatre of one of these fights, and Old FortBridge another. Quite recently evidences of battlehave been found at the latter locality, in the shapeof broken weapons and bullets of antique mould. Thebest authenicated tradition is that about the year 1640the Montaignais, armed by the French, attacked theEskimos, who were encamped at Eskimo Island in Bay, and slew about a thousand of them. Theremnant, estimated at two thousand, fled to the east-ward, but waged incessant warfare with the Indiansand early French settlers on the coast. The last fight. THE ESKIMOS 167 of importance is said to have taken place at BattleHarbour a few years before the English conquest ofCanada, and a certain spot there is still pointed out asthe burying-ground of those who fell in the encounter.^ The numbers reported to have been slain in theseencounters are no doubt greatly exaggerated, and itseems improbable that anything in the way of a pitchedbattle could have taken place at all, as such a directmethod of warfare was entirely contrary to the practiceof either the Indians or Eskimos. While such are the traditions of continual battles,I have been unable to find authentic support forthem in any accounts of Labrador. Charlevoix tellsof the enmity between the Indian and Eskimo races,and in a previous chapter, The French Occupationof Labrador, may be found further tales of generalhostilities, but nowhere is there an account of anythingwhich can be termed a battle. This racial enmity was not confined
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