Labrador
the N. E. peninsula of the North American continent, lying be- North American continent, lying between Hudson Bay and tween Hudson Bay and the Gulf of St.
Lawrence, extending from lat. 49° to 63° N., 63° N., and from lon. 55° to about W.; greatest length from the Strait of Belle Isle to its N. cape, Wolsten- 1,100 miles; area, 120,000 square miles; pop . about 4,100, collected chiefly at the Moravian missionary stations- Nain (1770), Okkak, Hebron, Hopedale, etc. The Atlantic coast is stern and precipitous (1,000 to 4,000 feet high), entirely destitute of vegetation, deeply indented with narrow fjords, and fringed with chains of rocky islands. The inner parts have been but very imperfectly explored; the greater part consists of a plateau, mostly covered with fine forest trees, firs, birches, etc.
Numerous lakes, including Mistassini, also exist inland, and, connecting with the rivers, afford in summer continuous waterways for great distances. The only inhabitants LABRUS of this interior plateau are Cree Indians, nomads. There The Grand Falls on Grand river are beare numerous rivers. lieved to be among the largest in the world. These rivers abound in fish, esprincipal fur-bearing animals are bears, pecially salmon and white fish. The lynxes, etc., which are trapped by the wolves wolves, foxes, martens, otters, beavers, , otters, beavers, inhabitants in winter . Of the mineral LABRADORITE (q. v.) are certainly abunresources little is known; but iron and dant. The climate on the coast is very rigorous, owing mainly to the ice-laden Arctic current which washes the shores.
The summer lasts three months. The winter is dry, bracing, and frosty.
Since 1809 the coast region has been annexed for administrative purposes to Newfoundland. The remaining parts of the peninsula are designated the Northeast Territory. By far the most important wealth of Labrador is its fishcod, salmon, herring, and trout. As many as 30,000 fishermen from New- Canada, and the United States visit its fishing grounds in the Cortereal, seems to have visited Labra- In 1500 a Portuguese navigator, dor, and to have given it its name, which means "laborers' land." season. cality whence first obtained), in miner- LABRADORITE (named from the lonamed from the loalogy, a member of the felspar group, in which the protoxide bases are lime and soda, the sesquioxide base being alumina.
Colors, gray, brown, greenish; sometimes colorless. The cleavable massive varieties sometimes exhibit, in the direction of the second cleavage, a lively play of color, blue and green predomi- This phenomenon has not yet received a nating, but fire-red and yellow also occur. satisfactory explanation. The colored varieties are sometimes used in jewelry.
Called also Labrador felspar.
The (lab'ri-dē), a genus and family of acan- LABRUS (la'-), plural, LABRIDÆ thopterygious fishes, the species of which are very numerous in tropical seas.
Labridæ family (wrasses, or rock fish, as they are also called) are chiefly refor their thick fleshy lips, their large and strong conical teeth, their oblong scaly body, and their brilliant colors. tinguished by a single dorsal fin, extend- They are further generically dising nearly the whole length of the back, part of the rays spinous, and behind the point of each spinous ray a short membranous filament. To this family belongs the black fish, or tautog, Labrus Americanus , 6 to 18 inches long, comhighly prized as food. mon on the coast of New England, and murous rivers. and river are beargest in the d in fish, esanimals are bears, tens, otters, beavers, trapped by the Of the mineral tainly abunte coast is very to the ice-laden washes the shores. months. The and frosty. has been anrative purposes to remaining parts of designated the Norththe most imrador is its fishand trout. As men from Newand the United grounds in the tuguese navigator, ve visited Labragiven it its name, The and in miner par group, ases are lime oxide base being y, brown, greenish; eavable masexhibit, in the vage, a lively predomialso occur. received a ke colored jewelry.
BRIDE of acanof whic eas. The rock fish, ck fisang lips, their al teeth, their obtheir brilliant colgenerically disorsal in, extendgth of the back, and behind the ray a short memthis family betautog, Labrus best England, and LA BRUYÈRE LA BRUYÈRE, JEAN DE (lä brüyār'), a famous French moralist and satirist; born in Paris, August, 1645.
Appointed tutor of the dauphin, he spent a large part of his life at the court of Louis XIV. His great work, on which his reputation rests, is "The Characters of Theophrastus, Translated from the Greek, with the Characters or Manners of this Century" (1688). It abounds in wit, shows him to have been an excellent LACCADIVES Labyrinths called mazes were at one time fashionable in gardening, being imitations, by hedges or borders, of the Cretan; the best known in modern times is the Maze at Hampton Court, near London, England.
LABYRINTHODON (-rinth'-), a genus of fossil amphibians, whose remains are found in the Carboniferous Permian, and Trias formations, those of the Trias judge of men, and is written in an ad being found in England, India, and Afmirable style. He died at Versailles, May 10, 1696.
LABUAN (lä-bö-än'), an island six miles from the N. W. coast of Borneo; area 304 square miles; pop. about 7,000, Malays and Chinese. Besides possessing a good harbor (Victoria), it has an extensive sive bed of excellent coal. Labuan is an active market for the products of the neighboring islands (Borneo and the Sulu Archipelago) - sago, edible birds'nests, camphor, gutta-percha, india-rubber, rattans, pearls, tortoise-shells, and beeswax. The island became British in 1846. In 1907 the territory was annexed to Singapore, an island of the Straits Settlements. Capital of Labuan, Victoria.
LABURNUM (-bur'-), a tree of the genus Cytisus, the C. Laburnum, natural order Leguminosa, a native of the Alps, much cultivated by way of ornament.
It is well and widel known for the beauty of its pendulous racemes of yellow pea-shaped flowers. The seeds contain a poisonous substance called cytisine, and are violently emetic. The wood is much prized by cabinet-makers and turners, being wrought into a variety of articles which require strength and smoothness. The Scotch laburnum of gardens is a form with larger leaves and flowers, which is known as C. alpinus.