• »v.TU.. .I.,,.. 
 
 S USO 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
EXCURSIONS 
 
 IN AND ABOUT 
 
 NEAVFOUNDLAND, 
 
 DURING THE YEARS 1839 AND 1840. 
 
 By J. B. JUKES, M.A., F.G. S., F.C.F.S.; 
 
 of st. John's college, Cambridge; 
 
 LATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEYOR OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOLUME I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 
 
 1842. 
 
LONDON: 
 
 Printed by William Clowes and Sons, 
 Stamford Street. 
 
TO 
 
 CAPTAIN PRESCOTT, R.N., C.B., 
 
 LATE GOVERNOR OF THE COLONY OF NEWFOUNDLAND 
 AND ITS DEPENDENCIES, 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 It would be an act of ingratitude on my part 
 were I to publish any work relating to Newfound¬ 
 land, and omit in some way to acknowledge the con¬ 
 stant public support and the kind private hospitality 
 with which you were so good as to honour me during 
 my stay in that country. 
 
 Allow me, then, to dedicate this little book to you, 
 as a slight mark of my respect and attachment; and 
 in so doing to assure you that your kindness is grate¬ 
 fully remembered by. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Your very obliged and obedient friend and servant, 
 
 J. B. JUKES. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 I feel that the publication of a book made up 
 of such slight materials as the following notes 
 demands some apology. My reason, then, for 
 sweeping out my note-books and laying their 
 contents before the public is, the utter igno¬ 
 rance which prevails in England with regard 
 to Newfoundland. Of this ignorance I must 
 plead guilty to the possession of a full share 
 before my visit to that country. Before I 
 looked into books to learn something of the 
 place I was going to, I did not know the name 
 of the capital, or whether the island had any 
 towns or permanent inhabitants or not. Since 
 my return from the country I have found many 
 persons—I may say, indeed, almost every one 
 —in the same state of entire darkness on 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 the subject. Very great ignorance of the 
 condition and extent of our Colonial posses¬ 
 sions, generally, prevails indeed among all 
 ranks of society, except in those classes con¬ 
 nected with them by trade; but Newfoundland, 
 the oldest of all our Colonies, seems to have 
 become utterly blotted out of our recollection, 
 or is known only by its dogs. I thought, there¬ 
 fore, there might be a sufficient number of 
 people willing to know something about it, 
 and who would allow me to take them by the 
 ear while 1 told them what I had seen of it. 
 Scarcely had I begun, however, to enter on 
 this task, when I was called to commence 
 preparations for an excursion of some years, to 
 another quarter of the globe. The marks of 
 extreme haste, and many slips of the pen, 
 will, no doubt, be abundantly evident to the 
 reader, but let me assure him that such haste 
 was the result of uncontrollable circumstances, 
 and not a mark of disrespect towards him. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Vll 
 
 Should he desire to be more thoroughly and 
 better informed on many points with respect 
 to Newfoundland, I beg to refer him to a 
 work shortly to be published by my friend 
 Dr. Stabb of St. John’s, which will, I believe, 
 contain a full historical and statistical account 
 of the island. 
 
 It now only remains for me to state that the 
 Legislature of Newfoundland voted in their 
 last session the sum of 100/. to defray the ex¬ 
 pense of printing my Report on the Physical 
 Geography and Geology of the island, and 
 lithographing and colouring its accompanying 
 maps and sections. That vote, with the rest of 
 the money bill, was subsequently lost in the 
 Council. At my request, however, His Excel¬ 
 lency the Governor, Sir John Harvey, has 
 taken upon himself to pay this grant, and to 
 him my acknowledgments are accordingly due, 
 as enabling me to put everything in train be¬ 
 fore I leave England. I must here also pub- 
 
Vlll 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 licly offer my thanks to the Honourable J. 
 C rowdy, the Colonial Secretary, for the uni¬ 
 form courtesy and kindness I have received 
 
 # 
 
 from him in this and other matters. 
 
 Wolverh ampton , 
 February 8th , 1842 . 
 
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Departure from Liverpool—Falling in with Ice—Landing 
 at St. John’s — Visit to Portugal Cove, Cape St. Francis, 
 Shoal Bay, Bell Isle, and Harbour Grace . Page 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Engage the Beaufort — Visit to Harbour Grace, Cupid’s 
 Cove, Brigus, the Cat’s Cove Hills, Holyrood Butterpots, 
 and Kelly’s Island — Visit to Carbonear, Bacalao Island— 
 Ice Islands off Trinity Harbour — Visit to Triuity, Ran¬ 
 dom Sound, Come-by-Chance, Chapel Arm, New Har¬ 
 bour, Heart’s Content — Return to St. John’s . 37 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Leave St.John’s for the Westward —Lamelin—St. Pierre— 
 Langley — Bay of Islands — Excursion up the Humber 
 River,—Calm in the Gulf of St. Lawrence—Catch of 
 Cod-fish . . . .85 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Cape St. George — St. George’s Bay — Sulleon, an Indian, 
 engaged as a guide — St. George’s Inlet — Exploring 
 Party to the Grand Pond or Lake—A Gale thereon — 
 Beautiful Exhibition of Aurora Borealis—Coalbrook— 
 Signs of a Coal-country — Discovery of Coal—Return of 
 Party — Hardships undergone —Hare Hill—Ories Hill — 
 Eligible Sites for new Settlements . . 118 
 
X 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Raised Beach—Crab’s River—A bed of Coal—South side 
 of St. George’s Bay—A Storm—Gypsum beds—The 
 Red Indians—Their Superstitions—Coal—Wreck of the 
 Onondago—Narrow Channel . - • Page 156 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Dead Islands—George Harvey—Want of Lighthouses 
 —A Ball—La Poile Bay —Arrival at St'Peter’s—The 
 Cod Fishery — St. Lawrence — Reach Placentia—Visit 
 Trepassee and Ferryland, and return to St. John’s. 182 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Arrival at St. John’s and meeting with Dr. Stuwitz—Christ¬ 
 mas Amusements—Description of a Newfoundland Set¬ 
 tlement—The Fishery—Habits of the Planters—Character 
 of the Natives—Politics—Fogs of Newfoundland. 219 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Return of Dr. Stuwitz, and departure with him to the Ice— 
 Appearance of the Ice and difficulty of getting through 
 it—Capture of the first Seal—Grand slaughter amongst 
 the Seals—Icebergs—Aurora Borealis —Capture of a 
 Shark — Description of the different species of Seal 
 found near Newfoundland—Effects of a Swell upon the 
 Ice—Return and arrival at St. John’s. . 250 
 
EXCURSIONS 
 
 IN AND ABOUT 
 
 NEWFOUNDLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Departure from Liverpool—Falling in with Ice—Land in 
 St. John’s—Visit to Portugal Cove, Cape St. Francis, 
 Shoal Bay, Bell Isle, and Harbour Grace. 
 
 April 11th, 1839.— Sailed from Liverpool in 
 the merchant brig “ Diana,” bound for St. 
 John’s, Newfoundland. 
 
 May 4th.—The temperature of the air on 
 the open sea had been mild and pleasant, the 
 thermometer frequently rising to 60° in the 
 middle of the day; for the last day or two, 
 however, it had been gradually falling. To¬ 
 day, being in long. 48° W., lat. 47° N., there 
 was a thick fog, occasionally lifting and clear¬ 
 ing off in open drifts in various directions, and 
 suddenly closing in again. The temperature 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
2 
 
 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. 
 
 [Chap. I. 
 
 of the water fell rapidly as we proceeded on 
 our course, and about two o’clock it was only 
 35°. The air, which at ten a.m. was 54, had 
 likewise sunk to 38°. The swell of the sea 
 gradually subsided, and the vessel was steadier 
 than it had been since we sailed. A sharp 
 look-out was accordingly kept, and as we were 
 sitting after dinner in the cabin, about four 
 p.m,, the cry of “ Ice a-liead ” brought us all 
 on deck, and the vessel was put about imme¬ 
 diately. I peered over the side into the driv¬ 
 ing fog, but could see nothing but small 
 jagged pieces of white ice, hardly to be dis¬ 
 tinguished from the foam on the crest of a 
 wave, whirling about in the eddy of the vessel. 
 Beyond them was a kind of white obscure, that 
 might probably be the sheen of the ice through 
 the fog. Practised eyes, I suppose, saw more, 
 and it was said to be the edge of a large field 
 of ice, or rather to be the edge of “ the ice,” 
 which was apparently understood to extend to 
 the north for an indefinite distance. We soon 
 left it far behind, and drove oft' to the south¬ 
 ward. On returning to the cabin, the captain 
 was congratulated on having made a good 
 “ ice-fall,” and hopes expressed of as good a 
 
Chat. I.] 
 
 A GOOD ICE-FALL. 
 
 8 
 
 land-fall. Had we struck the ice in the nieht, 
 we should probably have got entangled among 
 it, and been greatly hindered and delayed on 
 our voyage. During the two or three follow¬ 
 ing days, large pieces of ice and small icebergs 
 were frequently seen. Fogs also were frequent, 
 occasionally clearing off entirely, and then re¬ 
 curring in a most singular manner. There 
 seemed to me to be large well-defined banks of 
 fog resting on the sea in various places, or 
 moving slowly about, into and out of which 
 we passed almost instantaneously, and which 
 were not very easily observed by a person a 
 little distance outside of them, with a bright 
 sun overhead. 
 
 May 8th.—At sunset last night we saw the 
 high land about Cape St. Francis, clearly 
 defined on the horizon. At the sight of it, I 
 seemed to myself, for the first time, really to 
 have left the English shores. The vessel had 
 unconsciously been associated in the mind 
 with England, and appeared as it were a part 
 of it: now, however, we looked on a distant 
 land, and were really about to enter on a 
 strange scene. 
 
 On corning on deck this morning we were 
 
 b 2 
 
4 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. I. 
 
 close in-shore, standing backwards and for¬ 
 wards across the mouth of the harbour, with a 
 light, but bitterly cold breeze blowing off the 
 land. The cold wind blowing over the ice the 
 other day was not to be compared to the 
 biting keenness of this, although the ther¬ 
 mometer was a degree or two higher, being 
 about 41°. We were compelled, for the first 
 time since leaving Liverpool, to light a fire in 
 the cabin-stove, in order to breakfast in comfort. 
 The first view of the harbour of St. John’s is 
 very striking. Lofty precipitous cliffs, of hard 
 dark red sandstone and conglomerate, range 
 along the coast, with deep water close at their 
 feet. Their beds plunge from a height of 
 from 400 to 700 feet, at an angle of 70°, right 
 into the sea, where they are ceaselessly dashed 
 against by the unbroken swell of the Atlantic 
 waves. This immense sea-wall is the side of 
 a narrow ridge of hills which strike along the 
 coast here, and through which there are occa¬ 
 sional narrow vallies or ravines. These trans¬ 
 verse valleys cut down through the range to 
 various depths, and the bottom of one being 
 about fifty or sixty feet below the level of 
 the sea forms the entrance to the harbour 
 
Chat. I.] 
 
 ST. JOHNS HAjtBOUR. 
 
 5 
 
 of St. John’s, and is appropriately termed 
 the Narrows. Inside, the harbour expands 
 and trends towards the SAY., and the land 
 on the other side of it has a much more gentle 
 slope, and a much less height than that imme¬ 
 diately on the coast. It is also of a better 
 quality, and more fertile. The dark naked 
 rocks that frown along the coast near St. 
 John’s, their stern outlines unbroken by any 
 other vegetation than a few stunted firs that 
 seem huddled together in the more sheltered 
 nooks and hollows, give a stranger but an 
 unfavourable idea of the country he has come 
 to visit, and seem to realize all the accounts he 
 may have heard or read of the coldness and 
 barrenness of the land. As we sailed back¬ 
 wards and forwards across the mouth of the 
 Narrows, which in one place is only 220 yards 
 across, with rocky precipitous heights of 500 
 feet on each side, we caught a view of the 
 town, which, from its being built for the most 
 part of unpainted wood, had a sufficiently 
 sombre and dismal appearance. The harbour, 
 however, was full of vessels, and on landing 
 there seemed to be much bustle and business 
 going on. The melting of the previous 
 
6 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. I. 
 
 winter’s snow had, however, furrowed the 
 streets in various places with gutters running 
 across them, while from their ill-kept state, 
 from their long, straggling, and irregular ap¬ 
 pearance, the narrow dirty alleys and lanes 
 leading out of them, the dingy aspect of the 
 unpainted houses, and the groups of idle 
 and half-drunken sailors and fishermen, the 
 absence of street lamps and drains, the 
 entire want of all police, and the air of dis¬ 
 order and confusion which reigned through¬ 
 out, it was evident that the scene was a 
 foreign one. I found afterwards that it was 
 just the season when a number of vessels, 
 having shortly returned from the sealing ex¬ 
 pedition, their crews were all loitering about 
 witli money in their pockets, and the mer¬ 
 chants’ wharfs and premises were crowded 
 with their men unloading the vessels, and 
 preparing the seals for the oil-vats. My first 
 impulse on landing was to ascend the ridge 
 on the south-east side of the harbour, which, 
 from the people all using compass bearings 
 instead of the true, is called the south'side, 
 and the ridge the south side hill. From its top, 
 which is about 750 feet above the sea, there 
 
CiiAr. I.] 
 
 A FIRE IN ST. JOHN’S. 
 
 7 
 
 was an extensive prospect over sea and land. 
 On returning to the town, myself and a fellow 
 voyager found it quite destitute of inns and 
 hotels, but were lucky enough to engage very 
 comfortable rooms in a private lodging-house. 
 
 May 9th to 20th. — Having called on the 
 governor and delivered my credentials, I 
 found myself most kindly and hospitably 
 received, not only by himself and family and 
 the authorities generally, but by a number 
 of private persons and families, to whom I 
 was gradually introduced. And here, once 
 for all, let me record my thanks to the many 
 kind friends I had the pleasure of making, for 
 their abundant hospitality, and assure them, 
 at the same time, that I shall studiously 
 avoid the ill-judged ostentation of gratitude, 
 of dragging their names before the public. 
 On the evening of May 12th, we were alarmed 
 by the cry of fire, and in a few hours a block 
 of houses in the principal street, in the 
 centre of the town, was burnt to the ground. 
 The behaviour of the military and the fire 
 companies was very good, and to their exer¬ 
 tions and those of the more respectable in¬ 
 habitants was owing the preservation of the 
 
8 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. I. 
 
 town. I was, however, much struck with the 
 stupid indifference of a large part of the lower 
 class of the population, as compared with the 
 great, and sometimes self-baffling readiness 
 and eagerness of the population of any large 
 town in England, in similar circumstances. 
 No inducement or excitement beyond that of 
 present pay and reward seemed sufficient to 
 rouse one of the hundreds of great idle fellows 
 that stood around to stir hand or foot for the 
 preservation of the houses and property about. 
 I was afterwards told, indeed, that by far too 
 many of the population looked upon a fire as 
 a godsend, more especially if it reached or 
 threatened a merchant’s store, when a regular 
 system of plunder was carried out unblush- 
 ingly, and, as it were, by prescriptive right. 
 
 I think I afterwards perceived the causes of 
 the low state of moral feeling* exhibited on this 
 and one or two similar points, by people that in 
 other respects had many excellent qualities. 
 
 * The former state of vassalage in which they were held 
 by the merchants,—the adventurous nature of their pursuits 
 leading them to look on danger or misfortune as necessary 
 and inevitable,—as also the want of education, and commu¬ 
 nity of feeling, and of a popular opinion, are among the 
 causes alluded to. 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 THE NEW ROADS. 
 
 9 
 
 During these first ten days I rode out, 
 several times with the governor and the 
 surveyor-general, visiting Portugal Cove, 
 Logie Bay, and some other parts of the neigh¬ 
 bourhood. Several roads out of St. John’s 
 have been recently constructed, and are, for 
 about five miles, sufficiently good to ride or 
 drive on. The road to Portugal Cove is 
 finished from end to end, being about nine 
 miles and a half. The other roads beyond the 
 first five or six miles are either bare rugged 
 rock, wet moss and morass, or a bed of boul¬ 
 ders, like the bed of a torrent. Sometimes a 
 combination of all three within the space of 
 twenty yards offers a choice of evils. Except 
 on a regularly constructed road, or over a 
 cleared and cultivated field, it would be quite 
 impracticable to take either horse, mule, or 
 ass a single yard. The country in the in¬ 
 terior rises into many flat-topped or rounded 
 ridges, having an average height of 500 or 
 600 feet above the sea. One rounded hill, 
 five miles south-west of St. John’s, called 
 Branscombe Hill, is nearly 900 feet high, and 
 from its summit there is an extensive pano¬ 
 ramic view of the land between the east coast 
 
 n 3 
 
10 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. I. 
 
 and Conception Bay. The land hereabouts 
 was formerly nearly all covered with wood, 
 consisting principally of various species of fir, 
 spruce, and larch, with some birch. The 
 wood is of a stunted growth, small pole-like 
 trunks growing close together, with branches 
 and twigs thickly interlacing from top to 
 bottom: these, with the old trees falling 
 across each other in all directions, form a 
 matted thicket which is nearly impenetrable. 
 In the immediate neighbourhood of St. John’s, 
 and occasionally along the line of the roads 
 leading from it, these woods have been par¬ 
 tially cleared, and those spots in which vege¬ 
 table mould either was found, or could be 
 formed, are turned into fields and gardens. 
 The tops of the hills and ridges, more espe¬ 
 cially of the South Side Hill, are quite in¬ 
 capable of cultivation, being covered merely 
 with dwarf berry-bearing bushes. Such 
 spots are called “ barrens.” The hollows 
 and slopes of the hills, and the bottoms 
 of the valleys, contain generally either a 
 pond or a marsh. A marsh is a tract of 
 moss, which is sometimes several feet in 
 depth, like a great sponge, and, of course, 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 QUIDDY YIDDY POND. 
 
 11 
 
 always wet. The term pond is applied indis¬ 
 criminately to all pieces of freshwater, what¬ 
 ever majr be their size; the grand pond on the 
 western side of the island being fifty miles 
 long. These ponds or lakes are inconceivably 
 numerous, the whole country being dotted over 
 with them. Hundreds of lakes, two or three 
 miles long and upwards might be found, while 
 those of a smaller size are incalculable. Imme¬ 
 diately north of St. John’s, and close to the 
 town, which is built on the low ridge that sepa¬ 
 rates the harbour from it, is a pretty little lake 
 about a mile long, called Quiddy Viddy Pond. 
 About half way to Portugal Cove the road 
 winds for two miles along the banks of another, 
 called Twenty-mile Pond or Windsor Lake, 
 which with its surrounding woods is a charac¬ 
 teristic and striking scene. On approaching 
 Portugal Cove the eye is struck by the serrated 
 and picturesque outline of the hills which run 
 along the coast from it towards Cape St. Fran¬ 
 cis, and presently delighted with the wild 
 beauty of the little valley or glen at the mouth 
 of which the cove is situated. The road winds 
 with several turns down the side of the valley, 
 into which some small brooks hurry their wa- 
 
12 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. I. 
 
 ters, flashing in the sunshine as they leap over 
 the rocks and down the ledges, through the dark 
 green of the woods. On turning the shoulder 
 of one of the hill-side slopes, the view opens 
 on Conception Bay, with the rocky points of 
 the cove immediately below, and the smooth 
 and fertile-looking Bell Isle in front at about 
 three miles distance, beyond which the high 
 lands of the other side of the bay were 
 seen still streaked and patched on their sum¬ 
 mits and sides with snow. On returning this 
 day (May 13th) from Portugal Cove, we were 
 overtaken by two or three smart snow-storms. 
 
 Logie Bay is a small indentation of the 
 coast, about four miles north of St. John’s, 
 and is remarkable for the wildness of its rock 
 and cliff scenery: nothing like a beach is to 
 be found anywhere on this coast, the descent 
 to the sea being always difficult and generally 
 impracticable. In Logie Bay, the thick-bedded 
 dark sandstones and conglomerates stand bold 
 and bare in round-topped hills and precipices, 
 300 or 400 feet in height, with occasional fis¬ 
 sures traversing their jagged cliffs, and the 
 boiling waves of the Atlantic curling round 
 their feet in white eddies, or leaping against 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 SHIPPING A SERVANT. 
 
 13 
 
 their sides with huge spouts of foam and spray. 
 Just by Logie Bay is a mineral spring, con¬ 
 taining among other things a large proportion 
 of iron in solution. At the period of our visit 
 to this place, the scattered wooden huts were 
 empty and deserted, and the fish flakes and 
 stages out of repair, as the people only reside 
 during the summer season. 
 
 I had now been regularly installed as 
 Geological Surveyor, and instructed to ex¬ 
 amine into the structure of the country, 
 directing my attention in the first instance 
 to the neighbourhood of the principal towns 
 and inhabited places. A strong prejudice 
 existed that coal was to be found near St. 
 John’s. It behoved me, therefore, to find 
 out in what direction it could possibly lie. I 
 shall not enter, however, on geological matters 
 in these notes, but refer the reader interested 
 in them to the Report in the Appendix. My 
 first care was to engage a man who was ac¬ 
 quainted with the country, as a guide and 
 servant. Accordingly a rough-looking sub¬ 
 ject named Kelly, with a strong brogue, pre¬ 
 sented himself, whom, after some hesitation, I 
 engaged, or in his own language “ shipped.” 
 
EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. 1. 
 
 
 All domestic servants come to be “ shipped.” 
 Families are applied to to know whether they 
 want to “ ship” a housemaid or a cook. Some 
 idea of the rate of wages may be formed by 
 the fact of my having to pay this fellow, a 
 common fisherman, 28/. # currency, and his 
 board for the summer, that is, from the 1st of 
 May to the 31st of October. I found after¬ 
 wards I paid him 61 . too much, but in strange 
 places one must always submit to a little im¬ 
 position by way of paying one’s admission fees. 
 
 It will perhaps be the best way to afford the 
 reader some idea of the country, and of the 
 customs of the people, to give at some detail 
 a notice of the first two excursions I made from 
 St. John’s, the one north to Cape St. Francis, 
 the other south to Petty Harbour and Shoal 
 Bay. 
 
 May 20th.—Dr. Stabb of St. John’s having 
 agreed to accompany me to Pouclie Cove, 
 where he had to visit a patient, we set off after 
 a good breakfast, at seven o’clock. Kelly car- 
 
 * 11 . sterling is equal to 1/. 3.J. 4 d. 
 shilling passing for fourteen pence, 
 sterling into currency add a sixth; 
 sterling subtract a seventh. 
 
 currency, the English 
 The rule is, to turn 
 to turn currency into 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 TORBAY. 
 
 15 
 
 ried a knapsack and hammer-bag, while I was 
 encumbered with a prismatic compass, box 
 sextant, mountain barometer and thermome¬ 
 ter, gun and shot-belt. There was a road as 
 far as Torbay, where I had been previously on 
 horseback: the last three miles of this road, 
 however, was merely a track over bare rock, 
 with all its original hollows and ruggedness. 
 On entering Torbay, we passed a small Ro¬ 
 man Catholic chapel, which Kelly immediately 
 entered, and where he remained three or four 
 minutes. Torbay is a bold indentation of the 
 coast, offering little or no shelter except in the 
 coves at its head, and none there against an 
 easterly wind. The houses, as is always the 
 case in the small places, are scattered irregu¬ 
 larly round the cove, with a straggling path 
 from one to the other. They are built of wood, 
 each by its own inhabitants, rarely painted, and 
 with small windows and doors, the chimney 
 and hearth being of brick. One or two have 
 two stories, and a second room or parlour. As 
 a shore frontage is of the first importance to 
 their fishing operations, every advantage is 
 taken to extend it. Zigzag stairs, supported 
 by short poles resting on points of rock and 
 
16 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. 1. 
 
 wooden props, lead in some places down the 
 face of the black slate cliffs, to a wild little 
 landing-place on some sharp jagged ledges; 
 while stages are often carried out on the rocks, 
 affording places on which to spread the fish 
 to dry. The greater part of the road we 
 had come was bordered with thick scrubby 
 wood: in one place, however, this had been 
 burnt some years ago, and the white dry sticks 
 and stakes still remained bare and brittle, 
 crossing each other at all angles and positions, 
 and as bad or worse to penetrate than the 
 growing woods. As it was useless and almost 
 impossible to work traverses or to find sections 
 in such a country, I was driven to the sea-cliff. 
 This, however, was inaccessible, except by a 
 boat. I accordingly wished to engage a boat to 
 take us to Pouche Cove, a distance of six or 
 eight miles. I could not get one with fewer 
 than four hands, and at the rate of 10s. a man, 
 which, thinking extravagant, I refused. We 
 tnen walked to iMiddle Cove, another part of 
 vlie same bay, and there with some difficulty 
 induced two men to pull us alongshore for an 
 houi and back again in an old ricketv leakv 
 punt for a dollar and a half, or about 6s. and 
 
Chap. 1.] BURNT WOOD AT FLAT ROCK. 17 
 
 3d. sterling. Returning to Torbay we got a 
 dinner of tea, eggs, and bread and butter, the 
 latter being common ship’s biscuit and salt 
 butter, for which we paid 4s. sterling. We 
 then proceeded along the north shore of the 
 bay by a little footpath on the edge of the cliff, 
 and crossing over some high land came down 
 on a small place called Flat Rock. Along the 
 south side of this little cove, the thick red 
 sandstone dips at a slight angle towards the 
 sea, forming a long, smooth, sloping pavement, 
 whence the name of the place. At this point 
 we left the shore, and following a narrow path 
 into the woods, came to a brook crossed by a 
 wooden bridge. This bridge consisted of two 
 or three beams laid across the stream, with a 
 number of poles nailed down across them side 
 by side. Just beyond this, a part of the woods 
 had been recently burnt: the black charred 
 trunks and branches of the trees still standing 
 among the heaps of ashes and charcoal had a 
 striking and singular appearance when viewed 
 for the first time. A path several feet wide 
 had been cut through the woods for three or 
 four miles beyond this, but no other pains had 
 been taken with the road than in a few of the 
 
18 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND [Chap. I. 
 
 more boggy places to lay down some sticks 
 and branches of trees, by means of which a 
 dexterous jumper leaping from one to the other 
 might avoid sinking much more than ankle 
 deep. The slippery sticks, however, made a 
 fall so often inevitable, that, to avoid risk to 
 the barometer, I was content to wade how I best 
 could. We passed one or two little ponds of a 
 few hundred yards in diameter, embosomed in 
 wood. At the last of these the scenery was 
 very characteristic of a wild country. The tran¬ 
 quil pond seen at a little distance through the 
 trees, with the thick rank forest circling it on 
 every side so as to exclude every breath of 
 air, old trees covered with tangled bunches of 
 moss and white lichens, fallen through sheer 
 decay and leaning against their neighbours in 
 all positions over the water of the pond, pre¬ 
 sented a scene which had evidently been un¬ 
 altered for centuries, and which no act or care 
 of man had ever modified in the least; while 
 from the full margin of the pond a small brook, 
 some five yards wide, leaped with sudden im¬ 
 petuosity, and foaming over a rocky bed at our 
 feet, hurried into the w r oods, frequently con¬ 
 cealed by masses of fallen timber from bank to 
 
Chap. 1.] 
 
 POUCHE COVE. 
 
 19 
 
 bank, utterly lost to sight in about thirty or 
 forty yards, and only to be seen again when, 
 in sailing alongshore, it was found to fling its 
 waters over the broken crags into the sea. 
 
 At this point the broad path ended, and a 
 little narrow winding crevice, as it were, cut 
 through the woods, barely sufficient in some 
 places to allow a broad-shouldered man to 
 squeeze between the crowded stems of the pole¬ 
 like trees conducted us to Pouche Cove. It was 
 just dusk when we arrived, and we put up at 
 the first house or cabin we came to. The people 
 received us most hospitably, and gave us tea 
 and bread and butter, but, owing to the recent 
 death of a daughter, could not accommodate 
 us for the night. We then were taken to the 
 house of the schoolmaster, where we were 
 kindly received ; but his house being equally 
 unfurnished with room for more than his own 
 family, he took us to a Mrs. Sullivan’s, where, 
 it appeared, strangers usually put up. We 
 found here several people assembled round the 
 wood-fire, and shortly joined the circle. After 
 some interchange of talk, in which Kelly bore 
 his part by retailing all the news of St. John’s, 
 Dr. S. and I were shown through a door into 
 
20 
 
 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. 
 
 [Chap. I. 
 
 a small narrow room, in which there were two 
 beds. I, in my ignorance, concluded this was 
 a bed a piece; but Dr. Stabb, more accustomed 
 to the country, immediately asked who slept 
 in the other bed, “ Myself and the girl, sir,” 
 said the venerable Mrs. Sullivan, to my great 
 astonishment. Accordingly we tumbled into 
 one bed, and after the fatigues of the day were 
 soon fast asleep, and in the morning found the 
 other bed had certainly been slept in, and so 
 concluded the old lady and the girl had effected 
 their entrance and exit quietly in the night 
 without disturbing our slumbers.* 
 
 May 21st.—The bake-pot was put in requi¬ 
 sition this morning for our service, and a lot 
 
 * This was the only instance I met with myself in the 
 country in which what we should consider the rules of de¬ 
 corum were violated. I heard frequent anecdotes, however, 
 of the patriarchal simplicity of the habits of the people a 
 few years ago. It was a common thing, for instance, for 
 the man and his wife to admit the solitary wayfarer to a 
 share of their bed : but it must be recollected that in the 
 severe winter of the country this was probably necessary for 
 the preservation of his life duriug the night; and where the 
 whole house consisted but of one room, as was often the 
 case, separation was of course impossible. Among a people 
 of simple habits, however, sleeping in one common room is 
 not looked upon as more indecorous than sitting, eating, 
 or drinking in it. 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 POUCHE COVE. 
 
 21 
 
 of little cakes made by our hostess for break¬ 
 fast, at which she gave us also some fresh 
 herrings. W liile this was cooking we amused 
 ourselves by watching the spouting of two 
 Avhales in the offing. I then wished to en¬ 
 gage a boat to pull round Cape St. Francis and 
 down to Portugal Cove, but after consider¬ 
 able discussion I could not get one at any but 
 what I thought an extravagant price, 3/. be¬ 
 ing the lowest sum asked. 1 accordingly took 
 leave of Dr. Stabb, who wished to return to 
 St. John’s, and intended to make some excur¬ 
 sions on foot, and if possible to force my way 
 to Portugal Cove by that means. As I first 
 wished to see the rocks on the south side of 
 the cove, I struck through the woods in that 
 direction. The distance was about a mile, but 
 it cost an hour’s scramble, in the course of 
 which both Kelly and I were wet through, 
 from rain which fell early in the morning and 
 still rested on the leaves, to get near where I 
 wished. I then found a deep narrow “ gulch” 
 or crevice in the rocks still separated us from 
 the point of the cove, and that it would cost 
 another hour at least to reach it. A boat was 
 passing beneath, but a look at the smooth 
 
22 
 
 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. I. 
 
 shelving ledges and black precipitous slate 
 cliffs at once forbade all attempt at a descent. 
 We accordingly returned to Pouche Cove, and 
 passing through the scattered lot of straggling 
 houses, proceeded towards Cape St. Francis. 
 A narrow winding path of three miles through 
 the dense woods conducted us to it. Just as 
 we emerged from the woods on a bare emi¬ 
 nence above the little cove behind the cape, 
 called Biskin or Biscayan Cove, a schooner 
 rounded the cape close in-sliore, apparently 
 nearly touching the rocks, and then, hauling 
 her wind, kept close along the coast for St. 
 John’s. The lively craft, contrasted with the 
 deep silent woods and the wild rocks of the 
 cape, formed a beautiful picture. A few fisher¬ 
 men’s huts were scattered about even in this 
 desolate-looking little place. I walked round 
 Cape St. Francis, admiring the boldness of its 
 rock scenery and the magnificent sea-view of 
 the mouth of Conception Bay, but soon found 
 all further progress hopeless. It was not until 
 I actually looked upon this coast with my 
 own eyes that I could fully appreciate or even 
 understand the difficulty, if not the absolute im¬ 
 possibility, of traversing it. It is truly an iron- 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 CAPE ST. FRANCIS. 
 
 23 
 
 bound coast. It is not only lofty, and frequently 
 so precipitous as to be nearly perpendicular or 
 even sometimes overhanging, but so broken 
 by frequent indentations and precipitous cre¬ 
 vices and ravines, as to afford no regular edge 
 or summit along which to walk. Meanwhile to 
 the very verge of the rocks, and wherever there 
 was a possibility of a sufficient thickness of 
 moss supporting itself, the compact array of 
 stunted fir-trees crowded themselves, as if re¬ 
 solved to bar all thoughts of a passage. I 
 now began to understand the quiet smile of 
 ridicule with which the people met my propo¬ 
 sition to walk across from Pouclie Cove or 
 Cape St. Francis to Portugal Cove, and the 
 decided refusal they gave to be partakers in 
 such an extraordinary undertaking as it evi¬ 
 dently appeared to them. I could not before 
 conceive what possible obstacle there could be 
 to render a journey of only six or eight miles 
 such a mighty matter; and was astounded to 
 hear it related as rather a doubtful fact, that 
 one or two men had sometimes done it in the 
 winter when the snow had got hard-frozen and 
 rendered the ponds and marshes capable of 
 bearing their weight, and thus enabled them 
 
24 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. I. 
 
 to avoid great part of the woods. When I re¬ 
 collected that from the top of Branscombe Hill, 
 five miles to the south-west of St. John’s, I 
 could see no termination to these woods, my 
 idea of geologizing the country by the usual 
 method of a series of traverses, certainly re¬ 
 ceived a very rude shock, and I began to per¬ 
 ceive that, some other plan more adapted to the 
 nature of the country must be adopted. We re¬ 
 turned, however, to Biskin Cove, and got some 
 dinner of tea, eggs and herrings; and I then 
 agreed with three men for three dollars, or 15$. 
 currency, equal to 12$. 6d. sterling, to row me 
 back to Pouche Cove, a distance by water of 
 about three or four miles. The rock scenery 
 of these black cliffs, from two to three hundred 
 feet high, with the white surf foaming in their 
 crevices, was certainly very fine, and as we 
 rose and fell with the swell beneath them, as¬ 
 sumed a stern grandeur of appearance still 
 higher than their real character. On landing 
 at Pouche Cove I observed what I had not 
 before remarked, namely, slides or ways made 
 of trees and rough planks in one or two cre¬ 
 vices of the cliff’s, and found they were for 
 up the boats and skiffs whenever an 
 
Chap. I.] HUNGRY GRASS. 25 
 
 easterly gale set in, as they were then no 
 longer safe at anchor: some of these slides 
 were forty or fifty feet high, and very steep. 
 As soon as we left the boat the men went up 
 into the village, and Kelly said they would 
 spend all the money in rum before they went 
 home. We set out for Torbay by the same 
 road we traversed yesterday, Kelly’s tongue 
 running on in spite of the difficulties of the 
 path : among other things he said, speaking 
 of the recent establishments of schools in the 
 outports, “ What a fine thing it is, sir, to have 
 them schoolmasthers erected in every part of 
 the country ! ” Nothing remarkable happened 
 in our return, except that I felt absolutely faint 
 with hunger before we reached Flat Rock, in 
 spite of the dinner I had eaten at the Cape. 
 Kelly’s solution of this phenomenon was, that 
 there was a kind of grass they called hungry 
 grass, and whoever passed over it immediately 
 became so faint for want of food, that unless 
 they could shortly obtain it they would drop 
 and perish by the way. On this account it was 
 an established rule never to go even a few 
 miles into the country without a cake of bread 
 in the pocket, at least. I fancied the cause of 
 
 c 
 
 VOL. i. 
 
26 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. I. 
 
 my hunger was, that my English stomach, 
 having been accustomed to beef and ale, dis¬ 
 dained to be satisfied with tea and fish in what¬ 
 ever quantity supplied, especially with an ap¬ 
 petite sharpened by keen air and exercise. 
 However that may be, I attacked the first house 
 I came to, where we luckily got a quart of milk, 
 which, with some bread and butter, carried us 
 to Torbay. Here we put up at a larger house 
 than common, where I got a little salt mutton, 
 and a decent bed and bedroom with a parlour 
 attached, signs, I suppose, of our approach to 
 the capital. I had nearly given up smok¬ 
 ing, but this evening felt a sudden desire for 
 tobacco. I accordingly procured an old pipe 
 and some strong negro-head tobacco, and cer¬ 
 tainly found by its use a great relief from the 
 fatigue and over-excitement of travelling, and 
 took care afterwards never to be without it, espe¬ 
 cially where there was a probability of short 
 commons. I paid here a dollar and a half for 
 our supper and bed, and returned the next 
 morning to St. John’s to breakfast. 
 
 May 23rd.—About three in the afternoon 
 I set out lor Petty Harbour, intending to 
 visit a place about five miles beyond it where 
 
Chap. I.J 
 
 PETTY HARBOUR. 
 
 27 
 
 there was reported to be a copper-mine that 
 had been worked in the last century. For the 
 first three or four miles there was a good road, 
 but we then turned oft' by a narrow path over 
 the ridge of the South Side Hill. The summit 
 of this is a broad bare moorland, consisting 
 partly of morass or small skirts of wood, partly 
 of naked sheets of level rock or of round hum¬ 
 mocks and knobs, and small abrupt ridges of 
 rock rising up here and there along “ the 
 strike” of the beds. There are several ponds 
 or small lakes scattered about it: one or two of 
 these are connected by narrow passages, and 
 form most picturesque sheets of water; and 
 when the eye stretches across them over the 
 well-defined boundary of the hill just beyond, 
 and sees far away in the distance the blue 
 horizon of the sea, few scenes that I have be¬ 
 held are more w r ild and striking. After tra¬ 
 versing this moorland, we came suddenly on 
 the verge of its seaward slope; and there in a 
 narrow ravine between dark precipices lay the 
 cluster of white houses called Petty Harbour. 
 The houses surround a small creek, which re¬ 
 ceives a howling torrent that hurries over the 
 rocks of a desolate valley just behind, and they 
 
 c 2 
 
28 excursions in Newfoundland. [Chap. i. 
 
 seem so secluded and shut out from the world, 
 and the people too seemed so well off and con¬ 
 tented, that I was much interested with the 
 place altogether. There was a small inn also, 
 where I g’ot very decent quarters. 
 
 May 24th.—At six a.m. I started in a four- 
 oared punt * for Shoal Bay, about five miles 
 down the coast. The morning was cool, but 
 beautiful, with a light air off-shore; and the 
 bare lofty precipices of hard red sandstone, 
 which here form the coast, produced mag¬ 
 nificent cliff scenery. There was of course 
 a swell, as we were on the margin of the wide 
 Atlantic, and the manner in which we effected 
 a landing was by rowing on the crest of a 
 wave into a crevice just wide enough to ad¬ 
 mit the boat, and which shortly turned round 
 at right angles behind a broad mass of rock, 
 forming thus a snug shelter for our little craft. 
 After some search we found the place where 
 the mine had formerly been, and where some 
 iron staples and bolts still remained in the 
 rocks. There was, however, no appearance of 
 a shaft, nor could I find anything which could 
 lead me to guess as to the size or importance 
 
 * Punt is the term usually given to a small row-boat. 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 JIGGING-C0DF1SH. 
 
 29 
 
 of the vein. Some pieces of vein stuff, appa¬ 
 rently old refuse, lay about, containing small 
 patches and string's of ore, which proved to be 
 grey sulphuret of copper. After a delay of an 
 hour or two the wind gradually rose, and, 
 seeming inclined to shift towards the east, 
 warned us to be off, which warning it was 
 lucky we obeyed, as the sea was rising, and 
 by the time we returned to Petty Harbour it 
 was blowing pretty strong. On our return we 
 saw many fishing-boats, and passed one that 
 was anchored under a headland, jigging cod¬ 
 fish. A jigger is a plummet of lead, with two 
 or three hooks stuck at the bottom, projecting 
 on every side, and quite bare. This is let 
 down by the line to the proper depth, and 
 then a man, taking a hitch of the line in 
 his hand, jerks it smartly in, the full length of 
 his arm, then lets it down slowly and jerks it 
 in again. The fish are attracted by seeing 
 something moving in the water, and every 
 now and then one is caught by one of the 
 hooks. As soon as the man feels he has 
 struck one, he hauls in upon the line, taking 
 care to keep it tight till he heaves the fish into 
 the boat. In this way several were caught 
 
30 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. I- 
 
 while we were in sight by the two men in the 
 fishing-boat, and they tossed us three or four 
 fine fish as we went by, at the request of the 
 owner of our punt. Returning to Petty Har¬ 
 bour, I walked back to St. John’s by the way 
 I had come yesterday. 
 
 May 29th.—I was at Portugal Cove, and at 
 eight a.m. started in a punt with four men to 
 visit Bell Isle. It was rather a cloudy morn¬ 
 ing, but clear when we set off. After a row of 
 about three miles we landed on the beach, 
 which juts out under the cliff for about a 
 quarter of a mile in length and a hundred 
 yards in breadth. Found the island to consist 
 of black shale, with interstratified beds of grey 
 gritstone, very different from the hard slates 
 of the mainland opposite. Except at the 
 beach, the whole island is bounded by per¬ 
 pendicular cliffs, at one point nearly 300 feet 
 high. As I stood on the verge of this highest 
 point, small streaks of thick fog began to steal 
 along the surface of the water beneath, and 
 eventually covered it from sight, except here 
 and theie, wlieie a transient opening' showed 
 a patch of grey water dotted with flakes of 
 foam. Returning to the boat, we went south- 
 
Chat. I.J 
 
 THE BELL ROCK. 
 
 31 
 
 about and made the circuit of the island, 
 which is about five miles long and nearly 
 three broad. Near the south-east extremity is 
 a very pretty little place called Lants Cove, in 
 a small indentation of the cliff, this and the 
 beach being nearly, if not quite, the only points 
 at which it is possible to land. Both these 
 points contain several houses and inhabitants. 
 On the south-west side of the island we passed 
 between it and the Bell, as it is called, a per¬ 
 pendicular rock about an acre in extent, whose 
 flat top is level with the adjacent land, being 
 more than 100 feet above the water: a narrow 
 strait of about twenty yards across admits of 
 the passage of a boat in calm weather. Hav¬ 
 ing passed through this, we had to row up 
 the west side of the island against a headwind 
 and swell and thick driving fog. There was 
 still, however, a fine scene, to one unaccustomed 
 to the sight, in the dim looming through the 
 fog of each precipitous headland as they suc¬ 
 cessively appeared, frowning nakedly above us 
 as we passed beneath their feet, and then 
 seeming to wrap themselves in cloud again 
 as we laboured slowly onwards. The chill, 
 however, of the fog, and the rolling of our 
 
32 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. I. 
 
 little boat in the swell, gradually produced 
 a state of body very unfavourable to the appre¬ 
 ciation of the picturesque, that of incipient sea¬ 
 sickness, and I was heartily glad when we 
 again landed at Portugal Cove. Here the sun 
 was shining brilliantly, and I thought the day 
 had changed remarkably, but on looking back 
 was surprised to find Bell Isle invisible, and 
 that the whole of the bay was enveloped in 
 dense white fog rolling in before a north-east 
 wind, while the hills and the land around us 
 were basking in the sunshine without a cloud 
 or a mist. 
 
 I heard this evening that they had found 
 coal at Harbour Grace, and that the little 
 packet-boat which plies across the bay had 
 brought specimens of it, which had been taken 
 to St. John’s. Accordingly, the next day I 
 hurried across in the packet to Harbour Grace, 
 expecting to find twenty or thirty men digging 
 away at the outcrop of some bed of coal. On 
 inquiry, however, no one seemed to know 
 anything about it, till I was taken to a black¬ 
 smith s shop, who said he had got coal from 
 the banks of a lake called Lady Pond, which 
 he had used in his forge and found it answer 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 REPORTS OF A COAL-FIELD. 
 
 33 
 
 admirably. A lad accordingly undertook to 
 show me the place, and, the affair getting wind, 
 I proceeded, under a strong escort of twenty or 
 thirty people, in search of the coal. At the 
 back of the town I came upon a ridge of hard 
 clay slate, thick bedded, with imperfect cleav¬ 
 age, which rather shook my belief in the 
 neighbourhood of a coal-field; but as in a new 
 country there might be new facts, I did not 
 despair, and thought that at least a bed or a 
 nest of anthracite must exist. After pushing 
 through the woods for some distance, we came 
 to the margin of a lake a mile long, with a 
 perfectly flat shore, and without an inch of 
 rock exposed, and my conductors began 
 dabbling in the water till they picked up some 
 little brown pieces of stuff like a light cinder, 
 about half the size of an alderman’s thumb, 
 and which they strenuously persisted was coal. 
 One young fellow, however, said that sleighing 
 parties often made fires on the ice near this 
 spot in the winter, which confirmed me in the 
 belief of their being cinders. However, I took 
 some pieces away with me, and afterwards, on 
 drying and testing them, found them to be 
 
 c 3 
 
34 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. I. 
 
 pieces of a light spongy variety of bog-iron 
 ore. So ended all my hopes of a Harbour 
 Grace coal-field, but still so strong and so 
 general was the belief of coal existing in the 
 neighbourhood, that I thought there must be 
 some ground at least for it, and therefore 
 determined to explore with sufficient diligence 
 to decide the question. But how was I to ex¬ 
 plore ? To go hunting through the woods 
 and traversing the marshes was an idle waste 
 of time, and I found that in the approaching 
 fishing season it would be impossible to hire 
 boats: I therefore came to the determination, 
 at my return to St. John’s, to report to the 
 governor, with a request to be furnished with 
 a small coasting-vessel, in order to examine 
 the cliffs in detail. To return, however, to 
 Harbour Grace. It is a pretty-looking little 
 town, consisting of one long straggling street 
 along the north side of the inlet or harbour, 
 the houses being mostly painted white, and 
 standing on a narrow flat with a rockv rid°-e 
 just behind them. Its population is about 
 3000. It has altogether a more English and 
 neat appearance than most places in New- 
 
Chap. I.] 
 
 SPANIARDS BAY. 
 
 35 
 
 foundland. It contains, moreover, a very 
 decent inn, which at this time even St. 
 John’s was destitute of. 
 
 May 31st.—Walked across to Spaniard’s 
 Bay. The first three miles there was a good 
 road, but for the remainder of the distance, or 
 about three more, it was merely marked out. 
 From the summit of the ridge, between Har¬ 
 bour Grace and Spaniard’s Bay, the view 
 was highly picturesque. The foreground 
 consisted of rocky eminences covered with 
 wood, with lakes of water in their hollows, 
 beyond which the eye looked over a succession 
 of land and water formed by the inlets of 
 Spaniard’s Bay, Bay Roberts, and Port de 
 Grave, and the narrow craggy necks of land 
 between them, with the Cats Cove Hills, and 
 the other highlands about the head of Con¬ 
 ception Bay, in the distance. Spaniard’s Bay 
 contains but a few houses, but, as a gentleman 
 resided there who was a fellow-voyager with 
 me on my passage out, I stayed and spent the 
 day with him. I found everywhere the same 
 hard useless sort of slate rock as about Har¬ 
 bour Grace. 
 
 June 1st.—Returned early in the morning 
 
3G EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. I. 
 
 to Harbour Grace, and got on board the little 
 sailing-packet to return to Portugal Cove. As 
 there was a fine north-west wind blowing, I 
 thought it needless to lay in stock for a voyage 
 of only sixteen miles, but I soon found my 
 mistake. We had hardly got well out into 
 the bay before we were becalmed, and gradu¬ 
 ally drifted alongshore by the current; and, 
 after a tedious passage of nineteen hours, only 
 landed in Portugal Cove at half-past four the 
 next morning. Had it not been for the kind¬ 
 ness of two gentlemen going to St. John’s, 
 who were better provided than myself, I 
 should have had but a very indifferent time 
 of it. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 THE BEAUFORT. 
 
 37 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Engage the Beaufort — Visit to Harbour Grace, Cupid’s 
 Cove, Brigus, the Cat s Cove Hills, Holyrood Butterpots, 
 and Kelly’s Island—Visit to Carbonear, Bacalao Island— 
 Ice Islands off Trinity Harbour—Visit to Trinity, Ran¬ 
 dom Sound, Come-by-Chance, Chapel Arm, New Har¬ 
 bour, Heart’s Content — Return to St. John’s. 
 
 The Legislature of Newfoundland had origin¬ 
 ally voted 350/. towards the geological sur¬ 
 vey of the island. In consequence, however, of 
 my report to the governor, they increased the 
 grant this year to 600/., in order that 1 might 
 procure a coasting-vessel with which to survey 
 the shore in detail from point to point. After 
 some trouble I engaged a small ketch, called 
 the Beaufort, about thirty-seven tons burthen, 
 belonging to a man named Gaden, who was to 
 go himself as master. He was besides to get 
 a good four-oared punt, four men, and a boy, 
 and to victual himself and crew. For this I 
 engaged to pay 55/. per month. I had then to 
 furnish the cabin, which, for the size of the 
 
38 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. IJ. 
 
 vessel, was large and convenient, (as I could 
 stand upright under the skylight, and had 
 room for a chair, a stove, and a small fixed 
 table,) lay in stores for my own provision, as 
 well as a stock of everything I could possibly 
 stand in need of. All these preparations being 
 completed, she was ready for sea on June loth, 
 when I slept on board. 
 
 June 16th.—At five in the morning I was 
 awoke by a noise on deck, which I found to 
 proceed from one of the sailors being brought 
 on board drunk, having after some search 
 been caught by Gaden in the streets. It was 
 eight o’clock before we were fairly under 
 weigh, and stood alongshore to the northward 
 before a light air, so light indeed that it was 
 evening before we floated round Cape St. 
 Francis, and entered Conception Bay. At 
 ten p.m. there was a red gleam of sunset 
 fading in the west, with a fine arch of aurora 
 and flickering streamers over it, while above 
 was a young moon and all the host of stars. 
 The shores of the bay were visible on either 
 hand, the bold coast between Cape St. Francis 
 and Portugal Cove standing in dark relief 
 against the clear star-studded sky. 
 
Chap. II.J 
 
 HARBOUR GRACE. 
 
 39 
 
 June 17th.—It was quite calm during the 
 night, but at six a.m. a breeze sprung up from 
 the south-west, against which we beat up for 
 Portugal Cove. As we neared Bell Isle we 
 saw a fleet of fishing-vessels rounding it and 
 anchoring under its lee, and presently a smart 
 squall of wind and rain struck us, against 
 which we made but little headway. After 
 trying for some time in vain to get near 
 enough to Bell Isle to anchor, we bore up for 
 Harbour Grace. The packet-boat put out of 
 Harbour Grace as we went in, but after a little 
 while she too ran back to the shelter of the 
 harbour. 
 
 In the afternoon I visited a land-slip, in 
 company with Mr. St. John. In June, 1838, 
 near a place called the Grove, on the north 
 side of the harbour, after a great flood of rain, 
 a large piece of the cliff, consisting chiefly of 
 rubbish and boulders, slid forward over the 
 smooth slate rock, which in that place dips 
 towards the water. The subsidence was about 
 100 yards long, 40 yards across, and the cliff 
 about 140 feet high. It consisted now of three 
 ridges or shelves of land on which the trees 
 
1 
 
 40 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II. 
 
 stood undisturbed, with broken ground be¬ 
 tween them. These shelf-strips rose one 
 above another, the uppermost having sub¬ 
 sided about fifteen feet, with a chasm thirty 
 feet wide between it and the main land. 
 
 The next day I saw some pretty good slate- 
 rock, on the banks of the brook at the head of 
 the harbour, but found the woods very difficult 
 to penetrate. On returning by the shore of 
 the Lady Pond, I saw something struggling in 
 a shallow place, and fired at it. A large eel 
 showed himself, and I gave him the other 
 barrel and stunned him. One of the men 
 went and got hold of him, but loosed him 
 again for fear he should be bitten; he then 
 stooped down and seized him with his teeth 
 and both hands, and threw him into the air, 
 but instead of sending him landwards heaved 
 him farther into the water, so we lost him. 
 He was very large, and I was annoyed at the 
 man’s stupidity. 
 
 June 19th.—Weighed anchor at seven a.m., 
 and, in going out, visited the small island (one 
 of a cluster of rocks) at the mouth of the har¬ 
 bour, on which stands a lighthouse, perched 
 
Chat. II.] 
 
 PORT DE GRAVE. 
 
 41 
 
 oil the brink of a precipice, consisting of a 
 square wooden house with a square dovecote- 
 looking top for a lantern. It is, however, an 
 effective and useful light. The island is only 
 accessible in tolerably smooth weather, by 
 ladders up the face of its landward cliff. It 
 consists of one large block of as fine roofing- 
 slate as ever I saw in my life. Then went in 
 the boat to Bryant’s Cove, a picturesque little 
 spot, being the mouth of a small valley that 
 here comes out on the sea, and then pro¬ 
 ceeded to Spaniard’s Bay, whence I sent the 
 boat to tow the vessel in, it having fallen quite 
 calm. 
 
 June 20th.—This day visited Bay Roberts 
 and Port de Grave, finding nothing but slate 
 rock, similar to that which I had seen before. 
 Both these places are inhabited. Indeed the 
 western (or as it is called in Newfoundland the 
 northern) shore of Conception Bay is the most 
 populous part of the island, having upwards of 
 20,000 people scattered along it, with ministers 
 of the churches of England and Rome and of 
 the Wesleyans, several medical men, and most 
 of the comforts and conveniences of civilized 
 life. 
 
42 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II. 
 
 June 21st.—As I wanted to get a little into 
 the interior, to see if there were any boundary 
 to this abominable slate rock in that direction, 
 we took the boat this morning to what is 
 called the northern gut of Port de Grave. 
 Here a brook empties itself into the sea, having 
 run for about three miles through a narrow 
 pond, or “ cosh,” as my men called it. We 
 hauled the boat up the shallow bed of the 
 brook for a few yards into deeper water, and 
 then rowed up the lake. I then struck off, 
 with two men and the theodolite and baro¬ 
 meter, to the top of a hill on the north side, 
 called Sunday’s Hill, whose height I found to 
 be about 500 feet. From its top I could see 
 nothing in the interior but woods and marshes, 
 dotted with ponds, with several rugged emi¬ 
 nences rising in different directions. I pro¬ 
 ceeded two or three miles farther, over some 
 marshes, till I found the labour as useless as it 
 was great, since no rock showed itself. We 
 then had a hard tug through some thick 
 woods down to the bed of the brook, where 
 I found still the same slate rock, and after 
 much toil and difficulty we got back to the 
 head of the “cosh.” Here we met Gaden, 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 CUPIDS COVE. 
 
 43 
 
 who had caught three or four dozen of trout 
 up the brook, but on coming to the boat found 
 some urchins from the neighbouring houses 
 had stolen all our bread and butter. So we 
 sailed down the cosh to a house, where we 
 procured some potatoes, and with these and 
 the trout we had caught made a comfortable 
 dinner. As the evening fell I took the rod 
 and line, and just where the brook ran into the 
 sea I caught several dozen very nice trout and 
 salmon-peel. They seemed both to prefer the 
 brackish water at the mouth of the brook, and 
 the largest were caught farthest into the salt 
 water. We then returned to our vessel, which 
 was anchored about a mile down the bay, in a 
 place called Cupid’s Cove, but which, contrary 
 to what might have been expected, was a wild 
 desolate little spot with no attractions what¬ 
 ever. I was much struck with the beauty of 
 the little valley we had visited, its sheltered 
 situation between two bold rocky ridges, and 
 the apparent superiority of the soil on the 
 banks of the pond and brook, as evinced by 
 the larger size of the trees, and the little 
 patches of natural grass or turf which were 
 to be seen. Of the latter the generality of the 
 
44 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II. 
 
 country is quite destitute. The seafaring pro¬ 
 pensities and employments of the people, how¬ 
 ever, had hindered all but just the seaward 
 end of this pretty little place from being taken 
 possession of.* 
 
 June 22nd, 23rd, 24th.—Proceeded to Bri- 
 gus, and examined its neighbourhood. This 
 is a rather considerable settlement, with a 
 population of about 2000. It is a wild rocky 
 little place; but about three miles inland from 
 it is a fertile valley, through which runs a 
 brook forming occasional ponds, and emptying 
 itself into the sea on the southern side of Port 
 de Grave. It is accordingly called the South¬ 
 ern Gut. In this valley lies a farm called 
 “the Golds,”! which was farmed by Mr. 
 Cousins. The road to it lay through a pretty 
 wood, in which the timber was greatly superior 
 to that commonly to be found. There was 
 
 * Since the new road has been completed, it has several 
 times struck me that it would be worth while to clear away 
 the bar at the mouth of the brook, convert the “ cosh ” into 
 a small harbour, and cultivate its banks on a larger scale. I 
 know few places that would exceed it in beauty as a sum¬ 
 mer residence, and for feeding cattle it would certainly be 
 excellently adapted. 
 
 t So called from a yellow flower which grows abun¬ 
 dantly on the banks of some of the brooks. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 THE GOLDS. 
 
 45 
 
 some good grass-land in the Hat, but much of 
 it had been destroyed by spring floods, as the 
 best portion of it was scarcely above the level 
 of the brook. About two feet below the surface 
 was a stratum, three or four inches thick, of 
 concretionary bog-iron ore, that had as usual 
 been mistaken for coal. The water, becoming- 
 impregnated with iron, probably from the 
 decomposition of sulphuret of iron in the slate 
 rocks, deposits it when it becomes stagnant in 
 the flats, and it forms concretionary nodules in 
 the clay or mud. Much of this flat land was 
 covered with raspberry-bushes; and Mr. 
 Cousins informed me that, after a fire in the 
 woods, the first thing that covers the ground 
 is a luxuriant growth of raspberry-bushes, 
 which are gradually succeeded by a thick 
 wood of birch, although previous to the fire 
 nothing but fir and spruce may have been seen 
 for miles. I believe that at the time of mv 
 visit this farm was not a profitable speculation, 
 although the only one in the neighbourhood. 
 
 June 25th.—I set out this morning in the 
 boat, accompanied by Mr. Green of Brigus, to 
 visit the Cat’s Cove Hills at the head of Col¬ 
 lier’s Bay. After exploring the coast, we arrived 
 
46 
 
 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Ciiap. II. 
 
 at the head of the bay at 12 o’clock, and 
 struck off into the woods by a narrow path. 
 We took three men to carry the theodolite and 
 hammer-bag, but I did not intrust the baro¬ 
 meter to any one, and accordingly carried it 
 myself. In about a quarter of a'mile we came 
 upon a newly-cut road that was intended to 
 run from Brigus round the head of the bay 
 towards St. John’s. We travelled along this 
 for about half a mile, but found it a mere mo¬ 
 rass, and were obliged to jump from one root 
 of a tree to another the greatest part of the 
 way. We then struck off across a marsh 
 for the hills, and in a short time entered a 
 wood. Here we found the bed of a little tor¬ 
 rent, which enabled us to proceed some distance 
 with tolerable ease, but when that ended we 
 were obliged to force our way through the 
 dense thicket, sometimes climbing over, some¬ 
 time crawling beneath, masses of fallen rotten 
 wood, stumbling over slippery moss-covered 
 boulders, slipping on the wet roots of trees, 
 sliding down steep banks of rock, or tearing 
 the clothes off our backs by drago-ino- our- 
 selves through the matted twigs and branches 
 of the trees. All this while the thermometer 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 CATS COVE HILLS. 
 
 47 
 
 stood at 75°, and not a breath of air could 
 find its way to us. The smell of the woods 
 and the turpentine exuding from the trees was 
 as close and stifling as an oven, and the mos- 
 % quitoes began to attack us by hundreds. They 
 did not, indeed, annoy me so much, but Mr. 
 Green’s face and neck were soon running 
 down with blood. When, after toiling in this 
 way to the top of one ridge, we still found a 
 ravine separating us from the hill, we were 
 half inclined to give it up. However, taking 
 “ heart of grace,” we plunged again into the 
 woods, and after another stiff 1 climb we at 
 length found ourselves on the summit. It cost 
 us altogether more than four hours’ hard la¬ 
 bour, although the distance was not much 
 more than three miles from the sea-side. The 
 hill consists of three precipitous peaks, one of 
 which seemed nearly inaccessible, but, notwith¬ 
 standing its rugged and mountainous appear¬ 
 ance, the barometrical observations did not give 
 it a greater height than 860 feet. The view 
 from its summit was very beautiful: the whole 
 of Conception Bay, with its islands and varied 
 shores, was spread out before us on one side, 
 and all the centre of the province of Av«*lon 
 
48 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II. 
 
 on the other. A tract of comparatively flat 
 country stretched away to the south towards 
 St. Mary’s Bay, varied, however, by undula¬ 
 tions and occasional eminences, and covered 
 with woods and lakes, one of the latter of which 
 seemed of considerable size. To the east of 
 this tract ran a line of round hummocky hills, 
 consisting apparently of bare rock: to the 
 west was a ridge of hills seemingly of greater 
 height, but of a rounder and smoother charac¬ 
 ter. After spending an hour on the summit, 
 and taking a round of angles on the principal 
 objects, we descended. In going down we 
 took care to choose a better route than the one 
 we came up by, and, after traversing a small 
 marsh or two, came upon a wood-path, by fol¬ 
 lowing which we got out to the sea-side in 
 half the time it took us to go in. These wood- 
 paths are frequent in the woods near the sea¬ 
 shore : they are formed in the winter by the 
 people coming to cut fire-wood, when they 
 penetrate in various directions in search of the 
 best timber, and haul it out over the snow and 
 ice, having previously cut a crevice through 
 the thicket wide enough to admit its passage. 
 In the summer, when the snow is off the 
 
Chap. II.] A WINTER-PATH. 49 
 
 ground, these paths are sufficiently rugged 
 and uneven, as the stumps and roots of the 
 fallen trees still remain; they are, however, a 
 little better than the uncut woods, and serve at 
 least to keep a person in the right direction, by 
 which much time is saved. As they are in¬ 
 tended to be traversed only in the winter, how¬ 
 ever, they invariably cross all the marshes and 
 ponds that lie in the way, and the traveller is 
 constantly stopped by coming suddenly on a 
 large pond, right on the other side of which 
 he sees the continuation of the path, with the 
 pleasing consciousness that the space which 
 would require ten minutes’ easy and pleasant 
 walking, were the pond frozen over so as to 
 enable him to cross, will cost him now an 
 hour’s hard and provoking labour before he 
 can get round it. It is, moreover, round the 
 edges of the ponds that the trees are most 
 abundant, and the underwood thickest and 
 most impervious. On getting out to the sea¬ 
 shore we got some bread and butter and mo¬ 
 lasses-tea,* at a house or hut hard by, where a 
 
 * Common tea, boiled in a tea-kettle, with a spoonful of 
 molasses for sweetening, and often drunk, in default of a 
 better cup, out of the tea-kettle lid. 
 
 VOL. T. 
 
 D 
 
50 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II. 
 
 family had resided during the winter, and re¬ 
 turned to Brigus by ten o’clock. 
 
 June 26th and 27th.—Sailed along and exa¬ 
 mined all the inlets and holes and corners round 
 the head of Conception Bay up to Holyrood, 
 where we anchored in Chapel Cove. The bottom 
 here being light-coloured, we could appreciate 
 the extraordinary clearness and transparency 
 of the water. Although we were close inshore, 
 it was eight or ten fathoms deep; and yet we 
 could see the anchor lying on the bottom, and 
 the whole length of the chain up to the surface. 
 On the rocks nearer shore myriads of green 
 echini completely covered the bottom of the 
 water, except in patches where a kind of coral 
 forming: crusts an inch thick, with small round 
 knobs rising from it, was to be seen: this coral 
 belongs to the genus myriapora, and is abun¬ 
 dant on all the coasts of Newfoundland. This 
 afternoon I ascended the Butterpots, a remark¬ 
 able hill immediately on the east side of the 
 inlet of Holyrood. We passed to the foot of 
 the hill through a good deal of old burnt wood, 
 now all white and brittle. The mosquitoes 
 were troublesome, but w r e kept them off in 
 some measure by smearing our faces with 
 
Chap. II. I 
 
 HOLYROOD BUTTERPOTS. 
 
 51 
 
 camphorated spirits of wine and sweet oil, a 
 bottle of which I had provided for the purpose. 
 We unfortunately attacked the face of the 
 hill instead of working round it; accordingly 
 we had a very hard climb, and in one place I 
 slipped between two blocks of rock, and found 
 on arriving at the summit that I had thus 
 squeezed and broken the tube of the baro¬ 
 meter. The summit is flat, with a precipitous 
 face towards the west, and a more gradual but 
 still rapid slope to the east: it probably attains 
 the height of 1000 feet above the sea. The 
 view from it was much the same as from the 
 Cats Cove Hills. 
 
 I did not see much of the people in this 
 part of Conception Bay, as I was too eagerly 
 engaged in hunting rocks, but as far as I can 
 recollect they seemed to be comfortable and 
 contented, and their gardens and small fields 
 to be superior in fertility to those in the neigh¬ 
 bourhood of Harbour Grace or St. John’s. 
 
 June 28th. —From Holyrood to Portugal 
 Cove, visiting Kelly’s Island, Killegrews, and 
 Little Bell Isle on the way. From Holyrood 
 to Topsail there is a low tract of fiat land, 
 about a mile wide, full of ponds, and having a 
 
 d 2 
 
52 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II. 
 
 beach of large pebbles; and on the south-east 
 side of each of the three islands opposite to it 
 is a similar beach of a triangular shape, the 
 apex running out to sea and pointing to the 
 opposite shore. It looks as if a current swept 
 past the islands from the north-west, depo¬ 
 sited a heap of pebbles in the slack-water 
 under the lee of each, and piled up the rest 
 of the pebbles on the opposite shore. As a 
 proof that there is such a current, several 
 things (and I believe the body of a boy) which 
 were lost from a vessel that was wrecked in 
 1840 near Pouche Cove were picked up in 
 Holvrood, having doubled Cape St. Francis 
 and travelled to the very head of Conception 
 Bay. When I landed on Kelly’s Island I found 
 several workmen getting stone for the pro¬ 
 jected Catholic Cathedral in St. John’s. The 
 island is composed of shale, with bands of hard 
 fine-grained gritstone: a thick bed of the 
 latter comes out in the cliff on the south-east 
 side of the island, and, as the shale beneath and 
 above it decomposes, it tails down and forms 
 a considerable talus of fragments at the cliff’s 
 foot. One or two schooners were carrying 
 away these loose blocks for building-stones. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 CARBONEAR. 
 
 53 
 
 A few days before I visited them they had 
 found at- one place, beneath the roots of an 
 old tree that grew over the rubbish, an old iron 
 gun. It was a nine-pounder, very rusty, 
 having.’ no date or other mark than S. C. on 
 each end of the trunnions, with a figure be¬ 
 tween the letters that might either have been 
 a fleur-de-lys or an arrow-head. I was told 
 afterwards that in some former wars the island 
 had been used as a place of refuge for the in¬ 
 habitants of the neighbourhood. 
 
 June 29th.—Having sent across to St. John’s 
 for letters, &c., we sailed in the evening to 
 Carbonear, with a strong breeze of wind and 
 a storm of rain. 
 
 June 30th.—To-day, being Sunday, the 
 men, who were all Catholics, went to chapel, 
 and I spent the day with some gentlemen who 
 kindly invited me ashore. The land on which 
 Carbonear stands is not so level as that of Har¬ 
 bour Grace, the town therefore is more irregu¬ 
 lar; and as several mercantile establishments 
 which formerly existed there have been broken 
 up, it has, in parts, a forlorn and deserted air. 
 Nothing, indeed, looks so wretched as large 
 unpainted and deserted wooden buildings. 
 
54 
 
 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Ciiap. II. 
 
 I spent the evening at Mr. Packe s, who 
 has a very pleasant place on the top of the 
 ridge at the back of the town, where he has 
 reduced several acres to a very good state of 
 cultivation. I went over his farm, and saw 
 oats just coining up, as well as a good crop of 
 Timothy-grass, and some fine young cabbage- 
 plants springing. These were reckoned early, 
 and it was said in about three weeks the grass 
 and the cabbages would be ready for cutting. 
 Mr. Packe told me, however, that his farm, 
 with all the advantage of his having many 
 men who could employ their spare time on it, 
 instead of yielding a profit, cost him nearly 
 100/. per annum to keep it in order.* I was 
 much charmed with the aspect of a wild little 
 valley behind the house, partly filled with 
 wood and a succession of small lakes or ponds, 
 through which a brook ran off towards the 
 sea, while the view r from the front of the house 
 commanded the mouth of Carbonear Harbour 
 and its island, and a large part of Conception 
 
 * I hope Mr. Packe will excuse mv introducing him in 
 propria persona , and reporting private conversation, but 
 such facts as the above are valuable to show the nature of 
 the country. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 NORTHERN BAY. 
 
 55 
 
 Bay, with Cape St. Francis and its lofty 
 shores. 
 
 July 1st.—Sailed with a light air along 
 shore to the northward, landing at several 
 points as I went along. About Western and 
 Northern Bays were several spots where the 
 slate rocks were covered with red ochre. 
 There appeared to be an oxide of iron dis¬ 
 persed through the rock, which, when it was 
 exposed on the surface, formed a peroxide. 
 It was traditionally reported that the Red 
 Indians used these places formerly, to collect 
 the red ochre which they smeared over their 
 persons, clothes, and instruments. 
 
 In the evening it came on to blow fresh 
 from the south-west, and we anchored in 
 Northern Bay. Went ashore, and caught 
 some trout near a pretty water-fall at the head 
 of the bay. A considerable number of houses 
 were scattered round the little bay, as about, 
 all the small coves along this shore. The 
 people w r ere busied about their gardens, as also 
 in spreading the cod-fish to dry on the flakes. 
 In both places they seemed to be greatly 
 annoyed and troubled by the mosquitoes. The 
 women, although the weather was very hot, 
 
56 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II. 
 
 kept large shawls spread over their head and 
 shoulders, and pinned tight round their faces, 
 to protect them from the attacks of the flies 
 while engaged in their work. They were 
 very civil and hospitable, inviting me into 
 their houses, and offering spruce-beer or tea. 
 It was here I first noticed the swarms of small 
 fish called capelin. These fish (Salmo arc- 
 ticus) are rather longer than the hand, with 
 slight elegantly-shaped bodies, greenish backs, 
 and silver bellies, some of their scales being 
 tinged with red. They are very beautiful 
 little things, and in June and the early part of 
 July crowd into the shores in countless my¬ 
 riads to deposit their spawn. The head of 
 this little bay had a small strip of sand beach, 
 on which was a slight rolling surf, and every 
 heave of the wave, as it broke on the sand, 
 strewed its margin with hundreds of capelin, 
 leaping and glancing in the sun till the next 
 wave swept them off and deposited a fresh 
 multitude. The clear green of the water, 
 margined with a belt of white foam full of 
 these elegant creatures, glittering in the sun¬ 
 shine, formed altogether a most beautiful and 
 interesting sight. We picked up a bucketful 
 
Chap. II.] BACALAO ISLAND. 57 
 
 of them as we were going off, for supper and 
 breakfast, as, when fresh, they are most deli¬ 
 cate eating. 
 
 July 2nd.—Continued our voyage along 
 shore into Bay Verde, or, as the people call it, 
 Bay of Herbs. This latter name is singularly 
 inappropriate, as it is a wild desert place, com¬ 
 posed entirely of bare red gritstone, like that 
 on the coast near St. John’s. Bacalao Island, 
 which is close by, being almost inaccessible, is 
 the favourite resort of thousands of sea-birds, 
 which kept flying about us as we lay be¬ 
 calmed for some time in the bay. At noon a 
 fresh breeze from the south-west sprang up, 
 and we sailed through the passage between the 
 island and the main, and shaped our course 
 for Trinity Harbour, on the north-west side of 
 Trinity Bay. As we neared Trinity it got 
 very cold, the thermometer sinking to 48°, and 
 we found three small islands of ice a mile or 
 two to the northward of us. 
 
 July 3rd and 4th.—Trinity Harbour is one 
 of the finest in the world, having three spacious 
 basins entirely landlocked. A lofty rocky 
 promontory rises in the centre of the harbour, 
 
 d 3 
 
58 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II. 
 
 on the lower parts of which stand the houses 
 composing the town, scattered about with the 
 usual irregularity. There is a good church 
 and churchyard, and several large and excel¬ 
 lent houses with pleasant gardens. The store¬ 
 houses and yards of several mercantile esta¬ 
 blishments are also on a very extensive scale, 
 though the trade of the place is, I believe, 
 declining, and is greatly fallen off from its 
 former state. The harbour is surrounded by 
 rocky hills forming precipitous cliffs toward 
 the sea, and no road has as yet been formed 
 from it, though one to Catalina has been sur¬ 
 veyed. The rocks about it are slate, with 
 beds of greywacke conglomerate. The popu¬ 
 lation of- Trinity and the neighbourhood is 
 about 3000. 
 
 July 5th.—Sailed in the afternoon. The 
 three islands of ice off the mouth of the har¬ 
 bour were covered by gulls and other sea¬ 
 birds, that were continually wheeling round 
 them. Several whales were spouting round 
 us in the coves, close alongshore, apparently 
 pursuing the capelin. Many of these whales 
 were of large size, as was apparent from the 
 
Chap. II.] THE THRASHER. 5 f J 
 
 huge tails they heaved into the air. Put into 
 a little harbour on the south side of Buona- 
 venture Head. 
 
 July 6th. —After towing the vessel out of 
 the harbour, went away in the boat to examine 
 several islands. Saw a thrasher at a distance. 
 This is a large cetaceous animal, that lies on 
 the surface of the water, which he continually 
 lashes with what shows at a distance like a 
 great tail, but is, I believe, a large pectoral fin 
 or paddle. He makes the sea foam around 
 him, and is said to be then attacking the 
 whale. My men told me that, while the 
 thrasher thus persecuted the whale from above, 
 the sword-fish was thrusting him with his 
 jagged weapon from below, and one of them 
 assured me he had seen the whale rise to the 
 surface and heard him roar with pain at a 
 distance of three miles. As this was Kelly’s 
 story, however, I consider the authority very 
 doubtful, to say the least of it. After rowing 
 all day in a burning sun among the islands,* 
 
 * From one island I saw two well-defined stripes of wind 
 blowing down the bay, each about one mile broad, with 
 three stripes of perfectly calm water alongside of them, 
 giving a very peculiar banded effect to the aspect of the 
 
00 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II. 
 
 we saw the vessel still becalmed under the 
 land in the evening, and were obliged to pull 
 back to her, when a light breeze sprang up, 
 and we made for Smith’s Sound. 
 
 July 7th.—Thick fog early in the morning, 
 at the mouth of the sound, but as we pro¬ 
 ceeded we found it not to extend far inland, 
 and we drew gradually out of it into a blazing 
 sunshine. The sail up the sound was very 
 beautiful. It is a fine river-like arm of the 
 sea, from one to two miles wide, with 
 lofty, and in places precipitous, rocky banks, 
 covered with wood. We occupied the whole 
 day in examining both sides of the sound, and 
 anchored in the evening at the head of it in a 
 still lake-like bay, at the north-west corner of 
 Random Island. There is here a shallow bar 
 connecting Random Island with the main 
 land, which is only'- passable at high water. 
 This we carefully' examined to find the deepest 
 channel, in order to pass it in the morning. 
 The shore here, both on the island and the 
 main, is low and well wooded. It is corn- 
 
 water of the hay. The wind seemed to blow for some time 
 in the same direction within the same narrow limits, but 
 gradually shifted its place and visited other parts of the bay. 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 RANDOM SOUND. 
 
 61 
 
 posed of the same shale as Bell Isle in Con¬ 
 ception Bay, and its soil is of a superior fer¬ 
 tility to that of the rest of the country, and 
 timber is consequently better. We saw several 
 seals here, one of which we shot, but it sank 
 before we could get it. Although the nearest 
 shore was full half a mile from our anchorage, 
 we were immediately on our arrival invaded 
 by such hosts of mosquitoes, that, after vainly 
 trying to sleep for some time, we were obliged 
 to fasten down the hatches and skylights, and 
 then make fires of old rags, oakum, and other 
 things, till the vessel was saturated with 
 smoke. 
 
 July 8th.—Soon after daylight we tried to 
 tow the vessel over the bar, but found the tide 
 did not rise high enough to admit of it. It is 
 only at spring tides, or possibly during strong 
 easterly winds, that there is more than six feet 
 of water, while our vessel, the Beaufort, drew 
 six feet and a half. I accordingly put three 
 days’ provisions into the boat, and, taking two 
 men with me, set off, appointing to meet the 
 Beaufort in Hickman’s Harbour, on the south 
 side of Random Island. A fine mass of peaked 
 hills some miles to the west sent down some 
 
62 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II. 
 
 spurs to the coast opposite Random Inland, 
 which I found to consist of sienite. The cha¬ 
 racter of the scenery of Random Sound, on the 
 south side of the island, is much the same as 
 that of Smith’s Sound on the north, wild and 
 beautiful, and conveying, from its stillness and 
 silence, the feeling of utter solitude and seclu¬ 
 sion. As we rowed alongshore we came to a 
 small rocky point of red sienite, on which 
 stood two large masses of rock in a singular 
 position, the one resting on the other, on the 
 smallest possible base, apparently, on which 
 such a block could be balanced. On this point 
 was a she-otter with her young ones fishing, 
 one of the latter of which I shot, as they were 
 of good size. Here we dined, and presently 
 after came to a large bay or recess to our 
 right, from the head of which a well-marked 
 valley ran away to the south. Here we got a 
 breeze, and putting up our lug-sail we rattled 
 away down to Hickman’s Harbour. Landing 
 at one place opposite this to make some obser¬ 
 vations on some rocks that caught my eye, as 
 soon as we got under the lull of the woods we 
 were assailed by mosquitoes. I endeavoured 
 for some time to disregard them, but was at 
 
Chap. II.] A NIGHT ON THE BEACH. 63 
 
 last fairly maddened and driven off. They 
 came in such clouds before my face that I 
 could not see to write in my note-book, while 
 the eager voracity with which they fastened on 
 every inch of skin exposed was absolutely terri¬ 
 fying, so that at last we made a simultaneous 
 bolt into the boat and shoved off into the 
 breeze, which soon swept them away. We 
 then sailed to the mouth of the sound, but, 
 seeing nothing of the Beaufort, returned and 
 put into a little cove on the south side just as 
 it was growing dark. We were guided by the 
 sound of falling- water to a little brook that 
 leaped over the rocks into the sea. Here we 
 hauled our boat ashore, and established our¬ 
 selves on a little margin of shingle and broken 
 rocks between the woods and the water. We 
 gathered some old trunks of trees, and cut 
 dow-n some fresh ones; fired some loose brown 
 paper out of the gun to light a match, and 
 made a fire, piled on some logs, and as soon as 
 they were fairly alight covered them with 
 wet moss to make a smoke to drive away the 
 mosquitoes, in which we succeeded pretty well. 
 The next thing was to boil the kettle, into 
 which we put a handful of tea and about 
 
64 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II. 
 
 two table-spoonfuls of molasses, to make the 
 usual beverage of the country. In the mean 
 while a lot of green boughs had been cut to 
 interpose between the rocks and our persons as 
 a bed, and wood and moss piled for the night 
 to keep up the fire and the smoke. The men 
 had brought a spare stay-sail as a covering, 
 and I had a cloak. We were obliged to tie 
 our heads up in handkerchiefs, and put on 
 gloves, to keep our hands and faces from being 
 bitten; and, thus defended, hushed by the 
 falling water of the brook and the splash of the 
 sea three yards from our feet, we went to 
 sleep. Although awoke once or twice by 
 heavy rain hissing on the fire, I passed this 
 my first night in the open air in tolerable 
 comfort, but found in the morning a few sore 
 places in my ribs from some sharp corners of 
 rock coming against them. 
 
 July 9th.—On awaking found it high tide 
 and the water nearly up to the fire. The 
 tides on the coast of Newfoundland are gene- 
 rally so small, the water never rising or falling 
 more than six feet, and the coast is usually so 
 bold, the water being deep close in-shore, that 
 they are practically disregarded, the only dif- 
 
Chai\ II.] CLEARNESS OF THE WATER. 65 
 
 ference between high and low water being, 
 that a few feet more or less of perpendicular 
 rock are covered with water. The first thing 
 this morning I bathed, but, though the weather 
 had now been very warm for more than a 
 month, I found the water, even in this shel¬ 
 tered nook, bitterly cold, so that one plunge 
 from a rock quite sufficed me. We derived, 
 however, one advantage from it, as, while I was 
 dressing, my attention was caught by some¬ 
 thing moving on the bottom twelve or fifteen 
 feet below me, and I soon found it to be 
 covered with lobsters. One or two of these, 
 by means of a pointed stick, we managed to 
 capture. The singular clearness of the water 
 is most remarkable; when the surface is still, 
 the echini, shell-fish, and. actiniae clinging to 
 the rocks, crabs and lobsters crawling on the 
 bottom, fish, medusae, and myriads of sea- 
 creatures floating in its depths, were as clearly 
 visible to a depth of thirty or forty feet as in 
 air itself. Just as breakfast was ready it 
 began to rain again and the mosquitoes began 
 to thicken, so we pushed off in the boat, and, 
 hoisting an oar upon two forked sticks, we 
 threw the sail over it, and thus made a kind of 
 
66 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II. 
 
 canopy, under which we breakfasted, without, 
 at the same time, being breakfasted upon more 
 than was endurable. It afterwards cleared, 
 and we rowed about the shores of the sound, 
 examining the cliffs and waiting for the 
 Beaufort to make her appearance. The 
 cliffs hereabout are of a dark-red thick-bedded 
 hard sandstone or gritstone, and often rise 
 from a considerable depth below the water to 
 a perpendicular height of 300 or 400 feet 
 above it, sometimes without a single break and 
 scarcely a jutting ledge. Sometimes, how¬ 
 ever, a narrow talus is formed by huge fallen 
 fragments, and on the older pails of these soil 
 has gradually accumulated and trees have 
 grown. Among the roots of these trees nume¬ 
 rous otters have formed their burrows. These 
 are called “ otter rubs,” from the smooth and 
 beaten path leading to them, or from the 
 polished stems and roots of the trees, against 
 which the animals apparentlv rub themselves. 
 As I sat in one of these places among the 
 gnarled stems and twisted roots of some old 
 trees, and looked up to the huge wall of rock on 
 one side, and down on the other through the 
 leaves to the boat waiting at the foot of the 
 
Chap. II.] RANDOM WESTERN HEAD. 67 
 
 rocks below, it seemed so admirable a subject 
 for a picture, that I more than ever regretted 
 my want of artistic skill to do justice to the 
 scene. As we sailed out of the sound a small 
 whale or grampus rose near us, and 1 fired a 
 charge of swan-shot into him, but he seemed 
 to treat the salute with the utmost indifference. 
 The seaward view was entirely obscured by 
 fog, which every now and then drove in clouds 
 up the sound, but soon dispersed over the land. 
 After landing in a small cove and boiling our 
 lobsters for dinner, we observed some fishing- 
 boats at Random Western Head, about four 
 miles off, and pulled across to them to know 
 whether they had seen anything of the Beau¬ 
 fort. While we were talking to them the fog 
 cleared off, and we saw her in the offing, stand¬ 
 ing in towards us. We then visited Long 
 Island and Heart’s Ease, where there is a 
 small settlement of several houses, and got 
 aboard about dusk. After dark it fell calm, 
 and about ten o’clock I went in the boat to 
 find the entrance to a small harbour called 
 Fox Harbour. It was very dark under the 
 shadow of the cliffs, but we eventually hit 
 upon the spot, and found a channel between 
 
68 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II. 
 
 two small islands. In returning I could not 
 but be struck with the beauty of the scene. 
 There was not a cloud in the heavens, and, 
 though no moon was visible, the sky was 
 flaming with stars; the planet Jupiter, more 
 especially, cast quite a glare upon the still water, 
 which being nearly landlocked might have 
 been taken for a lake, but for the gentle heave 
 of the ground-swell, which told of the stirring 
 of the “ ocean old.” The air was mild, and 
 yet the northern lights were glimmering with 
 brilliant flickering streamers over the last faint 
 reflection of sunset, while every dash of the 
 oars and surge of the boat made the sea flame 
 with phosphorescent sparks and eddying flashes 
 of light. Around this brilliant scene dark 
 headlands lay in stern yet calm repose. All 
 was still and silent except the booming sound 
 of a whale as he rose to blow, making: a noise 
 occasionally like the puff of a steam-engine, 
 and the plash of the waters as they closed 
 again round his descending carcase. 
 
 July 10th.—It having been quite calm all 
 night, the vessel did not come to an anchor in 
 Fox Harbour before six in the morning, and 
 about eight I set ofl in the boat with four 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 SOUTH-WEST ARM. 
 
 69 
 
 hands to examine the inlet called the south¬ 
 western arm. We pulled along under the 
 northern shore, visiting a fine-looking harbour 
 called by the people Jones’s Harbour. At the 
 mouth of this a breeze sprang up, and we 
 hoisted sail and ran alongshore. The men, 
 having been up all night, fell asleep on the 
 thwarts ; and as I lay back between the yoke- 
 ropes of the rudder, I could see no other 
 moving thing on the broad sound, and the 
 hills and woods around us, but our little boat 
 dancing from wave to wave. Just before we 
 arrived at the head of the arm dark clouds 
 rose in the west, and a heavy thunder-storm 
 came on. We caught sight, however, of a 
 heap of chips of wood in a cove on the right 
 hand, which the men said was probably near 
 a winter-house or tilt. We made for it accord¬ 
 ingly, and found a path leading in about 
 fifty yards to a very good “ tilt.” 
 
 This was formed of trunks of trees placed 
 upright on the ground close together, with 
 larger ones for the corner-pieces, and a good 
 strong gable-end roof formed of a frame of 
 roughly squared beams. The corner pieces 
 and beams were nailed together, and the rest 
 
70 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II. 
 
 driven in tmlit with wouden wedges wherever 
 necessary. The interstices of those trunks 
 which formed the walls were filled up with moss 
 tightly rammed between them; and the roof 
 was covered by long strips or sheets of birch 
 bark, laid tile-like over one another, and kept 
 down by poles or sticks laid across them. A 
 space for a door is left in the middle of one 
 side, and a fire-place is built up with stones 
 and boulders against one end, over which is 
 a space in the roof, and some boards nailed 
 together for a chimney. In this way a 
 tolerable room, twelve or fourteen feet by 
 eight or ten, is formed, sufficiently compact to 
 keep out wind and weather to a certain extent. 
 A “ crew” of men, say six or eight, go off in 
 the beginning of winter with a stock of pro¬ 
 visions to the head of some of the largest and 
 least-frequented arms of the sea they can find, 
 where the wood has been least cut up, and, 
 building one of these huts, employ themselves 
 either in cutting fire-wood to be hauled out 
 over the snow and ice, or in making oars or 
 staves, building punts, fishing-boats, or even 
 in some cases small schooners. The house 
 which we had thus lighted upon had been 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 A WINTER TILT. 
 
 71 
 
 occupied by a party the preceding winter 
 building a large boat, which was the reason of 
 the pile of chips we saw on the shore, being 
 the spot where they had built and launched 
 her. The roof had suffered a little, some of 
 the bark or “ rinds” having been stripped off 
 by the winds. This, however, was soon re¬ 
 paired ; and in a quarter of an hour we had 
 one end of the roof water-proof, and a blazing- 
 fire lighted. We then broilglit the sails and 
 provisions out of the boat, and one of the men 
 “ rinding” a few more trees, we completed the 
 roof, and commenced cooking our dinners. 
 The storm not seeming likely to abate when 
 the evening closed in, we determined to stay 
 where we were for the night. Accordingly, 
 one man took a gun to look for a duck, one 
 went to moor the boat more securely, and the 
 others made new hafts for their hatchets, while 
 I copied out my geological notes from the 
 field-book. Just before dark it cleared a little, 
 and I followed a narrow path into the woods. 
 After running through thick woods for some 
 distance, the path came out on a small marsh 
 at the foot of a rocky hill, and then divided 
 into two or three. I pursued each of these 
 
72 
 
 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II. 
 
 to the end, and found them gradually to be 
 lost in the wood, usually ending at the 
 stump of some tree larger than common, and 
 which the men had gone farther in than usual 
 to procure. Beyond these points all was dense 
 and tangled thicket, now dripping wet. On 
 returning I found the boat’s sail dried and 
 rigged into a hammock for me, and the spare 
 stay-sail hung round the fire at the back of a 
 heap of green boughs, forming a bed and 
 curtain for the men. We then supped on.the 
 remains of the dinner, had a glass of grog and 
 a pipe, and spun yarns round the fire till we 
 all fell asleep. These men were all natives of 
 Newfoundland, but completely Irish, with all 
 the brogue, and some of the wit and humour, of 
 the latter country. They apparently delighted 
 in tales of the marvellous, which, if they did 
 not recollect, they were not slow to invent. 
 They were also evidently imbued with super¬ 
 stition. One of them, named Dick, was going 
 down to the boat soon after dark for something 
 he thought he had forgotten, when another 
 began a story of some man living in a lonely 
 place hearing a knock at his door one night, 
 which, on opening, he found to proceed from 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 A GHOST STORY. 
 
 73 
 
 a headless visitor that walked in and usurped 
 his place at the fire. Dick, who had got to 
 the door, instantly returned and sat down, and, 
 on my asking him why he did not go, said, 
 “ Oh, by God, sir, I ’m feared to go after that!” 
 and to my great astonishment I found that, 
 though an active daring boatman, he was 
 absolutely afraid to venture fifty yards in the 
 dark, and that his fear did not seem unnatural 
 or ridiculous to the rest. 
 
 July 11th. — Breakfast at daylight, and 
 pulled back again along the opposite shore. 
 A flat valley ran from our resting-place north¬ 
 wards into Random Sound, and had apparently 
 formed at one time a Avater connection between 
 the two inlets, and thus rendered the land 
 between the sound and the south-west arm an 
 island. I had not time, however, to examine 
 it more in detail, as my business was to hunt 
 rocks, and if possible find coal, which 1 had 
 been told had been seen about Random Island. 
 From the middle of the south-west arm I saw 
 the same picturesque group of hills in the 
 country to the west which I had previously 
 observed from the sound. The head of the 
 arm was also composed of sienite, as was the 
 
 VOL. i. 
 
 E 
 
74 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II. 
 
 case with the sound, from which, to the sea, 
 the rocks were all clay slate, quartzose grits, 
 and dark slate rock. On going alongshore 
 we came to a small sand beach, on which were 
 the fresh tracks of a bear and a fox. They 
 both led into the wood, where it was hopeless 
 to attempt to find them. A little below, a 
 very large bird, a kind of brown eagle, with 
 whitish head and yellow claws, flew out of a 
 cliff, and flapped lazily along from cliff to cliff 
 before us. I sent a ball after him out of my 
 double barrel, but without success. At one 
 spot where we landed was a small brook with 
 some meadow-land covered with grass, and 
 spotted with blue iris and other flowers. 
 Contrasted with the general covering of dank 
 moss, it looked quite delightful. It did not, 
 however, run far, as 200 or 300 yards from 
 the shore the usual close wood and moss 
 covered the ground. Reached Fox Harbour 
 at three p.m., took in some water, got up the 
 anchor, and stood into the bay, bound farther 
 up for the Bay of Bull’s Arm.- 
 
 July 12th.—We beat up all day against a 
 soutli wind, and in the evening anchored in 
 Mosquito Cove, Bay of Bull’s Arm. The aspect 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 BAY OF BULLS ARM. 
 
 75 
 
 of the coast and country was still the same,— 
 namely, wild and rugged, with scattered and 
 stunted wood. Beyond Fox Harbour and 
 Heart’s Ease there were no inhabitants. 
 
 July 13th. — Not very well this morning, 
 but about 11 o’clock set off with all hands in 
 the boat for the head of the arm. Here we 
 landed near a little brook, where I left the 
 skipper Gaden and one man fishing, while I 
 with the rest started across for the head of 
 Placentia Bay, determined among other things 
 to procure some fresh meat of some sort if 
 possible. The neck of land here which con¬ 
 nects the province of Avalon with the main 
 part of the island is not more than three miles 
 wide, and, where we crossed, not above 150 or 
 200 feet above the level of the sea. There had 
 been some talk of cutting a canal through it 
 to connect Trinity and Placentia Bays, and 
 were those places the seat of a large mercan¬ 
 tile population it would no doubt be effected. 
 At present, however, the only purpose it could 
 serve would be the occasional passage of a 
 fishing-boat from one bay to the other, accord¬ 
 ing to the season and the relative abundance 
 of fish. There are still the marks of a path, 
 
 e 2 
 
76 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II 
 
 along which, according to the tradition of the 
 country, the French, when they were in pos¬ 
 session of Placentia, used to haul their boats 
 from one bay to the other on the dry land. 
 The slope towards Trinity Bay is gradual, and 
 over marshy ground, on which we found a 
 great many tracks of deer apparently freshly 
 made. On the Placentia side the descent is 
 more abrupt and rocky, and through a thick 
 wood. On the barren, at the top of the ridge, 
 l shot a brace of ptarmigan without respect to 
 the season of the year, a consideration but 
 little attended to by a hungry man in a wild 
 country. At the foot of the woody descent we 
 came to a pretty brook with a depth of water 
 of two or three feet and a rapid current. Its 
 bed was, however, rocky, and it shortly spread 
 out among the pebbles and sands at the head 
 of the bay we had come out upon, and which 
 went by the name of “ Come-by-Chance.” 
 Walking about a mile down the brook we 
 came to a lone house at its mouth, with six or 
 eight cows feeding on the meadows, formed by 
 the washings of the brook and the sea. It is 
 only in such situations, where the alluvium of 
 a brook has had room to spread itself out, that 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 COME-BY-CHANCE. 
 
 77 
 
 natural grass is to be seen in the country. We 
 found only the woman and children at home, 
 the man having: gone down to fish about Pla- 
 centia. They managed the cows and the 
 salmon-nets. One of the latter was placed at 
 the mouth of the brook, and one a mile or two 
 up; and they told me that last year they had 
 caught six tierce of salmon. These varied in 
 value from 31. to 61. currency, so that the wife 
 was enabled to get 20/. or 30/. every summer 
 by her own exertions, independent of the 
 results of her husband’s cod-fishing, which 
 would probably be as much more. As they, 
 of course, paid no rent for either house or land, 
 and had wood for firing; and boat-building at 
 command, they were well off. To counter¬ 
 balance these advantages, however, they had 
 no fresh meat unless when the man shot a 
 deer, and had to fetch their bread, salt pork, 
 tea, sugar, and every article both of clothing 
 and food, from Placentia, or some other distant 
 merchant’s store, where they necessarily paid 
 high prices from the want of competition and 
 the nature of the trade. We got here some 
 fresh milk and butter, and four salmon, and 
 feasted accordingly, and while we were strolling 
 
78 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II. 
 
 about, the husband’s boat came “ goose- 
 winged” up the bay before a fresh breeze, and 
 my men got what they enjoyed more than 
 even salmon and milk, namely, some news 
 from Placentia and St. John’s. I also heard 
 of two gentlemen of St. John's who lost their 
 way in the country a few days before, in 
 attempting to walk across this neck of land a 
 few miles farther down, where it is about nine 
 miles wide. They were out in the woods two 
 days and a night in dreadful weather, with no 
 shelter and but little food, and with difficulty 
 got back to the place they had started from. 
 They were accustomed to traverse the country, 
 and not easily disheartened, so some notion of 
 the difficulty of penetrating it may be gained 
 from this fact. We walked back to our boat 
 in the evening, and found Gaden and the 
 other man had caught no fish, but had been 
 nearly eaten alive by the mosquitoes. 
 
 July 14th.—A dense fog this morning, which 
 about ten cleared off, and I took the men and 
 the boat, intending to visit a lofty hill called in 
 Bullock’s chart “ Centre Hill,” between Bay 
 of Bull’s Arm and Deer Harbour. In climb¬ 
 ing up the first bank I found myself very 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 CENTRE HILL. 
 
 79 
 
 weak and unwell, with sickness and frequent 
 giddiness, and it was with much difficulty I 
 toiled over the marshes and through the tan¬ 
 gled woods to some craggy and broken rocks 
 with dark pools of water at the foot of the hill, 
 which looked very steep and inaccessible. 
 After taking a little biscuit soaked in whisky 
 and water, however, and a strong pull at the 
 “ creature itself,” I managed to reach the top. 
 
 The view was very extensive, commanding 
 the greater part of Trinity and Placentia 
 Bays, the high lands about the Bays of Bona- 
 vista and Fortune, and a wide tract of the 
 interior. The interior consisted almost en¬ 
 tirely of marshes, dotted with ponds and 
 patches and strips of wood; a few ridges 
 showed either bare rock or white lichens to 
 contrast with the velvety green and yellow of 
 the marshes, Avhich are altogether deep 
 wet moss. Although the sea was within five 
 miles of us on one side, and the woods and 
 hollows obscured them at a greater distance 
 than eight or ten miles on the other, I counted 
 no fewer than 152 ponds from the summit of 
 this hill, none less than twenty or thirty yards 
 across, and some of them half a mile or a mile 
 
80 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II* 
 
 wide. The height of the hill was probably 
 1000 or 1200 feet. We could trace several 
 well-beaten deer-paths traversing the marshes, 
 but saw no deer. I found, however, a bag of 
 buck-shot on the top of the hill, which is used 
 as a look-out by persons who come to shoot 
 deer in the fall of the year. In descending we 
 found a kind of track that led us out by a 
 shorter way than the one we came, and close 
 by the shore we found a kind of rude sledge 
 that had apparently been hastily constructed 
 to haul out the body of some deer over the 
 snow. On returning to the vessel found my¬ 
 self very unw ? ell, but was cured by a boiled 
 ptarmigan and a basin of the broth. An 
 English stomach accustomed to fresh meat is 
 really very inconvenient to a traveller. In this 
 hot weather I had loathed the salt pork and 
 beef, and lived principally on tea and biscuit. 
 Our water, too, lately had been got principally 
 from brooks that flowed from the marshes, and 
 was full of vegetable matter ; so that, from bad 
 living and the incessant attacks of the mos¬ 
 quitoes, I was nearly driven into a fever, and 
 could neither eat, sleep, nor think. 
 
 July 15th.—Felt much better. Weighed 
 
 © 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 CHANCE COVE. 
 
 81 
 
 anchor and sailed along- the shore towards 
 Tickle Harbour. In the middle of the day 
 we got becalmed, and a thick fog came on, 
 and presently after a deluge of rain, that soon 
 poured through the skylight and ceiling into 
 my cabin, wetting everything except my bed. 
 In the evening it began to blow, and we met 
 some fishing-boats that told us Tickle Har- 
 bour was a bad place to lie in, and one boat 
 piloted us into a small cove called Chance 
 Cove a mile or two astern, where we arrived 
 just as it got dark, through a narrow and 
 rocky entrance. The man directed us, if it 
 came on to blow from the north-east, to get a 
 line ashore and haul behind a small rockv head- 
 
 J 
 
 land. After a glass of grog he sailed away 
 into the mist to go home, there being some 
 houses in a small cove a mile or two off to¬ 
 wards Tickle Harbour. 
 
 July 16tli. — Fine morning and pleasant 
 breeze, and we sailed alongshore round Tickle 
 Harbour Point into Collier’s Bay, landing oc¬ 
 casionally of course to examine the rocks. In 
 the evening one of the men, in getting water 
 from a brook, had his eyes nearly closed up 
 from the swelling caused by the bites of a very 
 
 e 3 
 
82 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II. 
 
 minute insect called a sandfly, one of the three 
 kinds of biting flies which go under the gene¬ 
 ral denomination of mosquitoes. 
 
 July 17th.—Saw some large flocks of ducks, 
 which were, I believe, the eider-duck, but could 
 not get a shot at them. We then visited 
 Chapel Arm, round which are some very pic¬ 
 turesque peaked hills, clothed with dense 
 wood. Here, at a place called Norman’s Cove, 
 we saw a small schooner on the stocks, and 
 found several houses. Sailing by a fishing- 
 boat we asked them for some fish, when they 
 threw half a dozen fine cod aboard, without 
 thinking of asking a recompence, or staying, 
 to receive our thanks. Coasted along and 
 anchored in the evening in New Harbour, a 
 shoal place and difficult of entrance. We here 
 found several merchants’ stores, and a consi¬ 
 derable population, the beginning of a road, 
 and a bridge over the brook. I also got some 
 provincial newpapers, and found a paragraph 
 in one in which I was said to have discovered 
 copper, gypsum, coal, limestone, and, if I re¬ 
 collect rightly, silver, the account, I suppose, 
 of some imaginative fisherman. 
 
 July 18th.—Mr. Nieuhook of New Harbour 
 
Chap. II.] 
 
 HEARTS CONTENT. 
 
 83 
 
 treated us very kindly, and piloted us out 
 in the morning, and we sailed with a light 
 breeze down to Heart’s Content, along a low 
 shore of bright red and grey slate. The wood 
 along this was finer than ordinary, and the 
 land apparently more fertile, grass growing 
 occasionally, and in one place, called Green 
 Bay, I observed some white clover in flower. 
 Heart’s Content is a fine spacious harbour, 
 nearlv circular, and excellentlv sheltered from 
 all winds. The land about is high, and from 
 this place the coast is lofty and bold for some 
 miles towards the north. 
 
 The Reverend Mr. Hamilton came on board 
 and invited me ashore. He has charge of all 
 the eastern shore of Trinity Bay, as Mr. Bul¬ 
 lock had of Trinity Harbour and the western 
 shore, Heart’s Content and Trinity being the 
 respective head-quarters. Almost all the east¬ 
 ern shore of Trinity Bay is inhabited, and 
 Heart’s Content contains two or three mercan¬ 
 tile establishments or agencies, and a consider¬ 
 able number of houses. The different places 
 alongshore are only connected by miserable 
 winding wood-paths or narrow boggy tracks 
 over the roots of trees, but Heart’s Content has 
 
84 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. II 
 
 a read, surveyed to Carbonear, which is com¬ 
 pleted except three or four miles of “ barren ” 
 in the middle, and all the brooks are bridged 
 over. There is also a road marked out from 
 New Harbour to Spaniard’s Bay, and wooden 
 bridges constructed over the brooks. 
 
 We were detained a day at Heart’s Content 
 by bad weather and a gale from the north-east, 
 and on July 20th sailed again alongshore, 
 calling at New and Old Perlican, Hants Har¬ 
 bour, &c., down to Baccalieu Island. Here 
 the wind fell to a calm, and it was morning of 
 July 21st before I landed at Quiddy Viddy, 
 and walked up to St. John’s, after a trip of five 
 weeks. 
 
Chap. III.] DEPARTURE FROM ST. JOHN S. 
 
 85 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Leave St. John’s for the Westward—Lamelin—St. Pierre— 
 Langley—Bay of Islands—Excursion up the Humber 
 River—Calm in the Gulf of St. Lawrence—Catch of 
 Cod-fish. 
 
 Not having succeeded in finding coal or other 
 valuable mineral matters in this part of the 
 island, the governor thought it would be ad¬ 
 visable for me to go round to the western side 
 to examine the coal which was creditably re¬ 
 ported to exist there, and then work my way 
 home along the south shore of the island, and 
 examine the other side of Avalon in the fall of 
 the year. We accordingly attempted to re¬ 
 place one of our men who was dismissed for 
 drunkenness by some one who had a know¬ 
 ledge of the coast we were going to visit, and 
 who could act as a pilot: we were, however, 
 unsuccessful in this, but engaged an active 
 young fellow to serve as a common sailor, and 
 
86 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. III. 
 
 determined to trust for guidance to our charts 
 and our own skill or good fortune. 
 
 July 30th. — After the usual trouble in 
 getting all our things on board which attends 
 the departure of both large and small vessels, 
 we sailed to-day at twelve o’clock with a fine 
 breeze from N.W., and passed Cape Broyle 
 about six in the evening, with the wind 
 lulling. 
 
 July 31st.—Having had a light wind all 
 night, we only doubled Cape Race early this 
 morning, and about eight found ourselves 
 off Trepassee, among a fleet of fisliing-boats, all 
 at anchor, and all catching fish with great ex¬ 
 pedition, and sailed with a light easterly wind 
 for the island of St. Pierre. The practice I had 
 already had did not prevent my feeling very 
 sea-sick, which compelled me to take refuge in 
 my berth the greater part of the time. 
 
 August 1st.—Dense fog, so that we could 
 not see twenty yards in any direction. About 
 eleven o’clock it cleared oft" a little and we 
 saw land ahead, which turned out to be 
 Laun Islands, the current having drifted us 
 in-shore more than we expected. The fog 
 closed in again, and the wind freshened, with 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 LAMELIN. 
 
 87 
 
 a short jerking sea, and about six in the even¬ 
 ing we found ourselves close in under some 
 high barren shore, round which the fog was 
 whirling in white eddies, utterly obscuring its 
 features. We concluded this to be St. Pierre, 
 but as none of us had ever been there before, 
 we did not venture to try for the harbour, 
 which is narrow and rocky, and so stood off' 
 again. Another attempt just before dark was 
 equally unsuccessful, so we stood oft* for the 
 night on a S.S.E. course, with a fresh breeze 
 from south-west and a rough sea. At mid¬ 
 night, when we calculated we had made fifteen 
 or twenty miles offing, we hove to. 
 
 August 2nd.—Stood in for the land again, 
 the fog being as dense as ever. We very 
 shortly came upon a fishing-boat at anchor, 
 and found that the strong current setting into 
 Fortune Bay, between St. Pierre and the main, 
 had drifted us close in-shore upon a highly 
 dangerous coast, whence reefs of rock extend 
 in some places three miles out to sea. Luckily 
 we had hit a spot where we had the little har¬ 
 bour of Lamelin under our lee, and by follow¬ 
 ing the directions of the fishermen, and leaving 
 one rock on the starboard, another on our lar- 
 
88 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. III. 
 
 board hand, and then hauling up to windward, 
 we found ourselves in smooth water, where we 
 anchored. Still the fog was as dense as ever, 
 and what kind of a place we were in we had 
 no notion. We heard, however, frequent 
 voices, and presently, as it began to clear a 
 little, we observed on one side of us a forest of 
 masts looming through the fog, apparently 
 large vessels, but which turned out to be a 
 fleet of fishing-boats waiting to put to sea. 
 Then the dim form of land was seen, and 
 when the fog dissipated we found ourselves in 
 a snug berth enough, behind two islands, with 
 a flat marshy shore on the other side, rising 
 into low barren rocky" hills in the interior. We 
 were detained here till the afternoon of August 
 4th by strong westerly winds, when, growing 
 impatient, I put to sea to try" to beat up to St. 
 Pierre. There were a considerable number of 
 houses in Lamelin, but, from the neighbouring 
 country being destitute of wood, most of the 
 inhabitants shift their quarters, when winter 
 comes on, to the shores of Fortune Bav. Two 
 men living here, however, had about fifty head 
 of cattle apiece, which they kept on the 
 adjacent marshes, where a rank grass grew. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 LAMELIN. 
 
 89 
 
 There was a shallow salt lake at the back of 
 the harbour that filled at the rise of the tide, 
 and was called by the people a Barrasway. 
 This is a very common term for a shallow 
 marshy inlet or salt lake along the south 
 coast of Newfoundland. It is spelt in the 
 French charts Barachois, and is, 1 conclude, 
 a Norman word. A Nova Scotian schooner 
 came in while we were at Lamelin, “The 
 Betsy of Halifax.” She was loaded with 
 pork, molasses, rum, and shop-goods, the 
 latter designation including all kinds of 
 printed calicoes, cloths, ribbons, gloves, shoes, 
 &c. &c. She traded along the coast, receiving 
 dry fish in exchange, and the owner of her, 
 while talking with me, pointed out a common¬ 
 looking fisherman, who, he said, owed him 
 100/., and whom he immediately proceeded 
 to dun accordingly. I was surprised to fiud 
 them dealing in so large a way, and trusting 
 any of the tenants of the miserable-looking 
 wooden huts around us to such an amount. 
 The resident merchants complain dreadfully of 
 these floating shopkeepers, whom they con¬ 
 sider as interlopers, and who often, by sudden 
 temptation of rum or finery, succeed in getting 
 
90 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. III. 
 
 off a whole cargo of fish that was justly due 
 from the fisherman to his merchant for goods 
 received. The ultimate result of the practice, 
 however, may be good for both parties, as I 
 shall have occasion to observe when speaking 
 of the trade of the country. Meanwhile, the 
 owner of the “ Betsy ” gave the people of the 
 neighbourhood by no means the best of cha¬ 
 racters in one respect, as he said one winter 
 he was utterly wrecked on Point des Galles, a 
 few miles to the eastward, and while walking 
 nearly naked on the snow, to try and recover 
 a few articles of clothing which were washed 
 ashore from the wreck, two or three men came 
 down, and made no scruple to pilfer the things 
 before his eyes, and would hardly give them 
 up when demanded. 
 
 August 5th. — After buffeting about for 
 nearly thirty hours, we managed to get into 
 St. Pierre outer harbour just before dark. A 
 subordinate officer came on board from the 
 guard-ship (which was only a schooner of four 
 guns) as we stood in, and pointed us out a 
 berth to anchor, and requested to know our 
 business. I gave him my card, and in a short 
 time lie returned with the commander of the 
 
CuAr. III.] 
 
 ST. PIERRE. 
 
 91 
 
 guard-ship, who was also captain of the port. 
 He behaved very civilly, and promised to 
 report my arrival to the commandant, and 
 demand permission for me to wait upon him. 
 Next morning, before I was up, a midshipman 
 came on board with the commandant’s desire 
 to see me at twelve o’clock, when I accordingly 
 called upon him, and found him a fine intelli¬ 
 gent old man, who had formerly been an aid- 
 de-camp to Marshal Ney. He was very civil, 
 and invited me to dinner. I learnt here that 
 the Cleopatra, Captain Lushington, the frigate 
 on the Newfoundland station this summer, had 
 sailed the day before we came in, which was 
 a disappointment, as I had hoped to have met 
 with her, and formed an acquaintance with 
 her commander and officers. The islands of 
 St. Pierre, Miquelon, and Langley are the 
 only territorial possessions left to the French 
 in this part of the world. The harbour of 
 St. Pierre consists of an outer road, which is 
 protected by several small islands and rocks 
 from most winds; and an inner harbour, 
 which is smaller, and has a rocky bar that 
 does not allow of the entrance of anything 
 larger than a brig of about 200 tons. On 
 
92 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. III. 
 
 one side of this inner harbour is the town, 
 consisting of a small narrow street of wooden 
 houses, few of which are two stories high, and 
 several lanes of still smaller dimensions. The 
 house of the commandant is tolerably sized, 
 built of wood, with several comfortable apart¬ 
 ments, having a small esplanade, and a couple 
 of guns, and a sentry or two before it. By 
 treaty the French are not allowed to erect for¬ 
 tifications, nor to have more than fifty soldiers 
 on the island at one time. There w^re two or 
 three large brigs and a ship in the outer roads, 
 and several smaller vessels, brigs and schooners, 
 in the inner harbour, besides many large boats. 
 They have very strict regulations in the port. 
 No English boats or vessels are allowed to 
 come in having fish on board, on penalty of 
 being seized; and no Englishman is allowed 
 to bring English goods and manufactures, or 
 to set up a shop in the town. There is, how¬ 
 ever, an American warehouse belonging to 
 Atherton and Thorne, which seemed to be 
 doing a large business. The island of St. 
 Pierre consists principally of sienite, and is 
 barren in the extreme. It is a mass of rocky 
 hummocks, the hills rising to a height of 400 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 LANGLEY ISLAND. 
 
 93 
 
 or 500 feet directly from the water. The hol¬ 
 lows and flatter parts consist of marshes and 
 ponds; and there is not a tree in the island six 
 feet high, a few scrubby fir-bushes alone con¬ 
 triving to exist. It is with the greatest diffi¬ 
 culty that they have scraped together near the 
 town sufficient soil to grow a few cabbages. 
 They are entirely dependent on Langley and 
 Miquelon, or the English settlements in Pla¬ 
 centia and Fortune Bay, for firewood. Vege¬ 
 tables they get from Boston or Prince Edward’s 
 Island. 
 
 August 7th.—Set out early this morning 
 in the boat for Lanolev, where the command- 
 ant told me he had a summer residence of a 
 much pleasanter character than the one at St. 
 Pierre, the country about being finer and more 
 fertile. Just north of St. Pierre, and separated 
 from it by a narrow channel is a small lofty 
 island called Colombier. Its resemblance to 
 a dove-cote arises from the multitudes of 
 puffins which breed there, and are always fly¬ 
 ing about it in great flocks. From this we 
 had a hard pull of three miles in the teeth of 
 the wind to the cliffs of Langley, as the Little 
 Miquelon of the French is called by the Eng- 
 
94 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. III. 
 
 lish. We then rowed round Cape Percee, 
 which derives its name from a singular arched 
 rock, and entered a wide bay that lies between 
 Langley and the greater Miquelon. The 
 scenery here was very striking and picturesque, 
 as the high land of Langley sloped down to¬ 
 wards the west, covered with rich green moss 
 and skirts of wood, into a dense mass of wood 
 of a finer appearance than usual, and covering 
 some flat land that swept round towards the 
 north, exposing a fine sand beach, and con¬ 
 necting the two islands of Great and Little 
 Miquelon. These islands, not more than sixty 
 or seventy years ago, were quite distinct, and 
 are marked so on all old charts; a considerable 
 channel of two fathoms’depth running between 
 them. This, however, is now entirelv filled 
 up, and a long narrow line of sand-hills with a 
 beach on each side occupies its place. In¬ 
 stances have been known, even of late vears, of 
 vessels in stress of weather making for this 
 channel, and being wrecked on the sands. On 
 walking out along the western side of this 
 neck of land, we found the remains of three 
 wrecks there then, as the place with a south¬ 
 west wind is very dangerous, more especially 
 
Chap. Ill-J 
 
 LANGLEY BEACH. 
 
 95 
 
 in foggy weather. 1 quite rejoiced in a walk 
 on this sand-beach, the only one I had yet 
 seen about Newfoundland, and indeed the only 
 place I had yet found (except the roads about 
 St. John’s) where it was possible to walk at 
 all, as one is accustomed to do, with the head 
 up and the eyes off the ground, and without 
 the constant fear of coming down on the nose. 
 It was quite refreshing to be able to step out, 
 with a fair “ toe and heel ” step, instead of 
 scrambling among bushes, or floundering in 
 wet marsh. The immediate neighbour of this 
 strip of sand, however, was a large marsh, in 
 which I shot half a dozen snipe as a compen¬ 
 sation for its toilsomeness; and some part of 
 it had been drained and was converted into 
 meadows, on which were sheep and cattle. 
 There are still more extensive meadows, 1 
 believe, farther north, on the Miquelon side, 
 where enough sheep and cows are fed to supply 
 St. Pierre and the neighbouring population. 
 
 The commandant’s house is on a gentle 
 elevation on the south side of the bay near a 
 rocky brook, and prettily situated. Close by 
 was a smaller house occupied by two gen¬ 
 darmes, who had care of the premises. One 
 
96 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. III. 
 
 of the gendarmes, named Ducroix, was mar¬ 
 ried to a pretty young Irishwoman, whose 
 history was rather remarkable. She had left 
 Ireland with her father and uncle when the 
 cholera was raging in it, and had gone with 
 them to Quebec. On arriving at Quebec they 
 found the cholera was very prevalent there 
 also, and they went on to Montreal, where it 
 was worse. At Montreal both her father and 
 his brother were attacked and died of cholera, 
 and she was left alone in a strange land. She 
 managed to get back to Quebec, and there 
 procured a passage in a vessel going to Ireland, 
 intending: to return to her friends: but the 
 vessel was totally wrecked on the beach of 
 Langley one night, and the crew and passen¬ 
 gers with great difficulty saved. Here, being 
 very young and quite destitute, she was per¬ 
 suaded to stop and marry the gendarme, 
 who happened to be present, and to have as¬ 
 sisted in rescuing her. This was six years 
 ago, and she had now four children. His 
 period of service was nearly out, and he ex¬ 
 pected to be ordered home the next autumn, 
 when she hoped to be able to visit her friends. 
 They behaved very hospitably to us, and gave 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 LEAVE ST. PIERRE. 
 
 97 
 
 us a loaf of bread and a lot of lettuces, no con¬ 
 temptible present to a sea-voyager. 
 
 August 8th.—Having profited by our visit 
 to a French port by taking in a sea stock of 
 wine and brandy, we sailed from St. Pierre in 
 the middle of the day with a south-east wind 
 and thick and rainy weather. We could just 
 make out the dim form of Cape Miquelon as 
 we rounded the north end of the island, and 
 then steered away on a west-north-west course 
 into the fog. 
 
 August 9th.—Dense fog, with occasional 
 squalls of wind and rain. I experienced a 
 peculiar feeling of loneliness to-day, in looking 
 out from the deck of our little vessel into the 
 heavy fog resting on the dark boiling waves, 
 as we slowly toiled over their crests, or sunk 
 into their hollows, that I do not recollect to 
 have felt before. We seemed so utterly shut 
 out from all the world, so hidden by the dense 
 curtain about us, and our vessel to be such a 
 mere nut-shell on the wide waste of waters, 
 which, as its boundaries were no longer 
 visible, appeared to the imagination more vast 
 than when defined by a sensible horizon ; and 
 we passed so many hours and traversed so 
 
 VOL. i. 
 
 F 
 
98 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. III. 
 
 many miles without change of any sort, in the 
 same damp fog, over the same dreary water, 
 that the fancy became affected with a kind of 
 awe, very different from the usual excitement 
 of a mere coasting voyage. I do not know 
 whether the rough minds of my companions 
 were affected in the same way, but they were 
 all silent also. 
 
 August 10th.—About six this morning, 
 through a slight opening in the fog, we saw the 
 dim outline of land a mile or two on our star¬ 
 board hand, and accordingly hauled off to the 
 west-south-west. About noon the fog; sud- 
 denly cleared off, or rather ive ran out of it, 
 and found ourselves fairly in the Gulf of St. 
 Lawrence, with Cape Ray about ten miles 
 east-north-east of us, and a bright sun over¬ 
 head. We then steered north for the Bay 
 of Islands, and at night were oft' the mouth of 
 St. George’s Bay. It was a beautiful evening, 
 with a fine aurora in the northern skv, con¬ 
 sisting of a diffused yellow light with brilliant 
 streamers rising in the north-west, the whole 
 dabbled with small black clouds. 
 
 August 11th.—Fine morning, with fresh 
 breeze from the south. Kept close in to Cape 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 BAY OF ISLANDS. 
 
 99 
 
 St. George, and between it and Red Island. 
 
 ZD 7 
 
 Red Island is composed of horizontal beds of 
 red sandstone, while the cliffs of Cape St. 
 George are a light yellow limestone, chiefly 
 magnesian. We then passed along a low and 
 level shore, being a neck of land running on 
 one side of a large bay, called Port au Port. 
 This was covered with wood. North of the 
 entrance of Port au Port the coast is very bold 
 and lofty for a considerable distance, as far 
 north as Cape St. Gregory at least, the high 
 lands of which were visible as we came to the 
 entrance of the Bay of Islands. We were 
 here entirely in a new country, but the chart 
 showed us two small harbours on the south 
 side of the bay, called York and Lark Har¬ 
 bours, in the former of which we anchored 
 about dusk. We had some difficulty in getting 
 in, as under the high lands round the harbour 
 we were every now and then totally becalmed; 
 then a squall, rushing down some narrow 
 ravine, would suddenly strike us, and hurry 
 us along, “ scuppers under,” straining the 
 masts and “ making everything crack again.” 
 
 August 12th.—At sailing this morning we 
 kept under the southern shore, passing by 
 
 f 2 
 
100 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. III. 
 
 several low flat islands on our larboard hand, 
 in order to enter the most southern of the 
 three branches into which the bay divides, 
 and which is called Humber Sound. I had 
 been informed that at the head of this was the 
 mouth of the largest and most navigable river 
 in the island : this I was desirous to ascend as 
 far as possible, in order to get some notion of 
 the interior of the country. In entering the 
 sound a lofty ridge of high land rose imme¬ 
 diately to the south of us, called the Blow-me- 
 down Hills. Its general elevation must, I 
 think, have been upwards of 800 feet. It was 
 bare at top ; and in some hollows, just under 
 the top and sheltered from the south and the 
 rays of the sun, some patches of snow twenty 
 or thirty yards across still remained, although 
 the summer hitherto had been very hot. The 
 slope of these hills, and the flat land at their 
 foot, was covered with dense wood. Where we 
 lay last night there was no sign of habitation; 
 accordingly we were yet ignorant whether we 
 should find any people in the neighbourhood, 
 or, if we did, what nation they would belong 
 to. Just at the mouth of the sound, however, 
 we saw a small hut, and made towards it, and 
 
Chap. III.J 
 
 HUMBER SOUND. 
 
 101 
 
 presently a human figure presented itself in a 
 tattered dress, but it was not till we heard 
 him speak that we knew whether he was an 
 Indian or a European. We found him to be 
 an Englishman, who, wdtli his wife and two 
 children, had just settled there, and that this 
 hut was his summer residence, his winter 
 house being back in the woods. He was in a 
 poor state at present, but expected to be more 
 comfortable in a few years. He informed us 
 that there were four other small settlements in 
 the sound; accordingly in sailing up we saw 
 on each side a patch or two of garden-ground, 
 with a house attached, forming a green open¬ 
 ing among; the black woods. The sound is 
 about a mile wide and seventeen long, and 
 the scenery, as might be expected from the 
 rocky and woody character of its shores, is of 
 a pleasing kind. We anchored at the head of 
 the sound in not more than eight feet of water, 
 with a muddy bottom. We found here an old 
 man residing with his family in a small 
 wooden house, with a garden attached. He 
 had lived in this spot for sixty years, and had 
 seven sons; one of these, a cripple, was with 
 him; the other six he said were away in the 
 
102 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Ciiap. III. 
 
 woods hunting either for deer, or beavers, 
 otters, martens, and other fur-bearing animals. 
 
 Our first object was to visit the river, which 
 we rowed up about a mile. It had a width of 
 fifty or sixty yards, and a depth of several feet, 
 with a tolerably gentle current. A little far¬ 
 ther up, however, the men at the neighbour¬ 
 ing hut assured us there was a long rapid, and 
 that our only means of ascent would be haul¬ 
 ing the boat by a long line. On returning to 
 the vessel we set to work to prepare, packed 
 up four or five days’ provisions, got ready the 
 lines, got out the square sail for a tent, &c. 
 
 August 13th.—At seven this morning we 
 set off. After rowing about a mile between 
 
 <D 
 
 wooded banks we came to a part where the 
 river made several short turns through rocky 
 precipices of white limestone and quartz, fre¬ 
 quently eating its way into their bases, and 
 leaving deep overhanging shelves. At about 
 three miles we arrived at the foot of the 
 rapids, where the scenery was highly striking 
 and picturesque, lofty cliffs of pure white 
 limestone rising abruptly out of the woods 
 to a height of 300 or 400 feet, and being 
 themselves clothed with thick wood round 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 HUMBER RIVER. 
 
 103 
 
 their sides and over their summits. Three 
 men now took a long towing-line, while the 
 skipper and another man stood at the bow 
 and stern of the boat to guide her in the 
 eddies and anions,' the rocks and boulders. 
 There was but little strand for the men to 
 walk, and they had occasionally to wade 
 through the water, or clamber along the edge 
 of the woods, passing the rope from one to 
 the other round the trees. However, after 
 some hard work, we at length reached the 
 head of the rapid, which is nearly a mile long, 
 and stopped to rest and refresh on a bank 
 of sand above it. Several seals rose in the 
 still water above the rapids, but took care to 
 keep out of gun-shot. One or two passed 
 close by us in the rapids, but we were then 
 too busily employed to think of shooting them. 
 Above the rapids the river has a more straight 
 course, and the hills recede from it without 
 losing their height, enclosing a valley about 
 two miles wide. This valley is filled with 
 groves of birch, and several small brooks fall 
 into the river. The river itself widens to 100 
 or 150 yards, with a shallower bed, sandy 
 shoals existing in places, with only narrow 
 
104 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chai\ III. 
 
 channels sufficient for our boat between them. 
 One straight reach, however, is two or three 
 miles long and five or six feet deep. Above 
 this, and about six miles above the lower 
 rapids, we came upon some others. The 
 upper part of these rapids, for about a quarter 
 of a mile in length, is much more difficult 
 and dangerous than any part of the lower 
 rapid. The principal mass of water rushes 
 with the greatest force and rapidity over large 
 boulders, and sweeps against a steep rocky 
 bank. The bank affords no footing, and the 
 force of the water would not admit of any 
 boat being towed up it. We accordingly 
 tried the other side of the river, but here there 
 was no continuous channel of sufficient depth. 
 We were therefore obliged to unload the boat, 
 carry the things above the rapids, and after¬ 
 wards fairly lift the boat over the rocks from 
 one little pool to another, and drag her in the 
 best manner we could. With much labour we 
 got her at last iuto deep water, and again pro¬ 
 ceeded with the oars. About half a mile 
 above these upper rapids we suddenly came 
 out upon a lake. This was a very" beautiful 
 sheet of water, two or three miles across,- and 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 DEER POND. 
 
 105 
 
 with no land visible at its farther extremity, 
 which bore from us about north-east. Some 
 strips of sand formed its banks just at the 
 entrance from the river, on which were several 
 fresh deer-tracks. The sand, however, soon 
 gave place to boulders, upon which it was 
 scarcely possible to walk, from their round, 
 smooth, and slippery surfaces. This border of 
 boulders was about three or four yards across, 
 with a steep slope, and above it was the usual 
 bush of fir-trees growing out of piles of soft 
 moss. As the evening was now closing in, 
 and it began to rain, we hauled our boat up on 
 the southern shore of the lake, and selected 
 the smoothest place we could find among the 
 wood-covered rocks for our bivouac. We 
 cleared a small space by cutting down a tree 
 or two, rigged one of these across the branches 
 of two that were left standing, threw the sail 
 over it, stretching which out towards the 
 ground we pegged it down, and thus made a 
 very sufficient tent, which, though it rained 
 hard during the night, kept us tolerably dry. 
 The dampness of the ground we partly avoided 
 by lying on the fir-boughs, the trimmings of 
 the trees we cut down for fire-wood. 
 
 f 3 
 
106 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. III. 
 
 August 14th.—I was awoke at daybreak 
 this morning by the cry of the “ Loo,” or great 
 northern diver, a very handsome dark bird 
 with white spots, and almost as large as a 
 goose. Its cry is a wild unearthly yell, with 
 a rather musical cadence, and sometimes a 
 sharp termination. It might be imitated by 
 sounding with a shrill and prolonged note the 
 words “ ya hoo,” and ending by a short 
 “chuck.” From the loudness and closeness of 
 the sound this morning, I concluded one to be 
 close alongshore, and stole quietly down with 
 my gun, but could only see two at the distance 
 of at least half a mile. The water was per¬ 
 fectly still, and under such circumstances it is 
 astonishing to what a distance their cry will 
 be heard along its surface. It was a dark 
 heavy morning, but as soon as we had break¬ 
 fasted we proceeded along the shore of the 
 lake, shooting a young gull by the way, to a 
 small brook coming out of a narrow valley at 
 the south-east corner of the lake. Here I shot 
 a couple of beautiful grey-spotted kingfishers, 
 which were new to my eyes, but are, I believe, 
 common in North America. A little breeze 
 soon after sprang up, and the clouds dispersed, 
 
Chap. III.J 
 
 HUMBER RIVER. 
 
 107 
 
 and we sailed with a fair wind up the lake. The 
 high ground around the south-west end of the 
 lake gradually slopes down into a flat country 
 at its north-east extremity, the hills being 
 close to the lake on its south-east side, but on 
 its north-west side gradually receding from 
 it and running off in a connected chain of 
 rugged hills as far to the north as the eye 
 could follow them. When we had sailed 
 about half way up the lake we could just dis¬ 
 cern the tops of the low woods in the flat land 
 round its northern extremity, from which cir¬ 
 cumstance, and from the time we took to tra¬ 
 verse it, I judged it to be about fifteen miles 
 long. 
 
 At its north-west corner we found the river 
 again, coming in, in two branches, each about 
 fifty yards across and several feet deep; these 
 branches joined in about 200 yards, enclosing 
 thus a delta whose base was about 200 or 300 
 yards in length. The banks of the lake here¬ 
 abouts were flat and sandy, with occasional 
 small marshes. Proceeding up the river, we 
 found its banks, rarely rising more than ten or 
 twenty feet, everywhere covered with dense 
 wood, consisting of fir, larch, spruce, birch, 
 
108 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. III. 
 
 and pine, many trees being of good size, 
 and capable of affording good timber. The 
 river was frequently 100 yards broad, but 
 got more shallow as w r e proceeded, and 
 at one or two places we had some dif¬ 
 ficulty in finding water enough for our 
 boat. After proceeding about five miles 
 against a tolerably rapid stream, we encamped 
 on the north side of the river among a grove 
 of birches. We had seen but little game, 
 consisting only of two geese and a few divers, 
 and had lost much time in attempts to procure 
 these, having only succeeded in adding two or 
 three divers and the voung gull to our stock 
 of provisions. These, with the addition of a 
 lump of salt pork, we boiled all together in 
 our boat’s kettle, and, thickening the broth 
 with a little flour, we generally cleared off all 
 its contents, both fluid and solid. To the 
 bouillee of the kettle we added some molasses- 
 tea and a couple of common sea-biscuits both 
 morning and evening, taking a biscuit or so 
 during the day as we had leisure or appetite. 
 
 August 15th.—On coming out of our tent 
 this morning I could hear, the air being per¬ 
 fectly still, a dull but continued noise of falling 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 THE UPPER RAPIDS. 
 
 109 
 
 water, which promised ill for the farther ex¬ 
 tension of our journey. However, we set off 
 in a thin mist, and after getting a mile or two 
 farther came to some islands on the north-west 
 side of the river, opposite which another river 
 came in from the north-east. Among’ these 
 islands we saw several wild geese, but the 
 noise of our oars had rendered them too alert 
 to be approached within gunshot. Just above 
 these islands the mist suddenly cleared off, and 
 we saw some great rapids right a-head, whose 
 foaming waters seemed to offer an insuperable 
 barrier to our farther progress. Nevertheless, 
 we landed at their foot, and, taking one of the 
 men, I set off to see how far they extended. 
 After a most difficult and toilsome scramble 
 through the woods, which were rendered 
 worse even than usual by a quantity of low 
 alder-like bushes growing on the banks of the 
 river, we came out in about half a mile on the 
 head of the rapids, and found a deep still 
 reach stretching; off some distance beyond. 
 Eagerly desiring to penetrate along these un¬ 
 known waters, I sent the man back with direc¬ 
 tions to bring up the boat, and I would wait 
 for them. After waiting an hour or two with- 
 
HO EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap.III. 
 
 out seeing any signs of it, however, I retraced 
 my steps and found the party comfortably 
 seated round a fire with the tea-kettle boiling, 
 and on remonstrating with them the skipper, 
 Gaden, said it would be impossible to drag 
 the heavy punt up these rapids, and, moreover, 
 that they had trusted to killing more game, 
 and had not more than a day’s provision left. 
 The rapids were certainly worse than the last 
 and longer, and the boat was better fitted for a 
 heavy sea than a shallow river: still I thought 
 it possible to get it up ; but I saw the men 
 were gloomy, and did not like the job, and to 
 do it would require them to “work with a will.” 
 The most serious obstacle, however, was the 
 want of provisions, as, if we knocked a hole in 
 the boat against one of the rocks in the rapids, 
 and were thus delayed any time, we might 
 be a day or two without food. I accordingly 
 reluctantly consented to go back, under the 
 delusive hope of being one day able to return 
 better provided to overcome the obstacles of 
 the route. I insisted, however, on exploring 
 the other river which w r e had passed, and 
 which came in from the north-east, and, if that 
 offered an easier passage, ascending it as high 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 INDIAN WIGWAM. 
 
 Ill 
 
 as possible, and trusting to our guns for sup¬ 
 port. This other river made several short 
 turns and then became wide and shallow, and 
 we came shortly in sight of a set of rapids 
 quite as bad as those we had just left. The 
 banks of the river here were open and plea¬ 
 sant, and on one sandy point we found the 
 skeleton of an Indian wigwam, consisting of a 
 circular set of poles sloping inward and meet¬ 
 ing at top, forming a rude cone. We now 
 turned about, and sailed rapidly down the 
 river into the lake, on reaching which we 
 encamped close to the mouth of the left branch 
 of the river. The view of the lake, here 
 receding from the flat country into the bosom 
 of the hills round its south-west end, was very 
 beautiful, and superior to anything I had yet 
 seen in the country, the features of both 
 ground and water being broader and larger, 
 and not frittered away into mere picturesque 
 nooks and corners, as is usually the case in 
 Newfoundland. The hills at the south-west 
 end of the lake are gneiss and mica slate, con¬ 
 taining quartz rock and primary limestone. 
 The flat country is composed of brown and 
 red sandstones and conglomerates. We found 
 
H*2 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. Ill, 
 
 this evening near our tent a trap for foxes 
 and martens ; it consisted of the upright stump 
 of a tree partially hollowed out, and four 
 boards nailed over it, forming a box, open on 
 one side; a heavy log of wood fell across this 
 side on the withdrawal of a slight prop con¬ 
 nected with a trigger inside the box; on this 
 trigger was a piece of venison for a bait, and 
 when the animal seized it it brought down the 
 log of wood, which broke its neck. It be¬ 
 longed, we afterwards discovered, to the man 
 living down at the mouth of the river. 
 
 August 16th. — There was heavy rain last 
 night, but our tent was waterproof. To-day 
 we pulled down the lake against a brisk wind, 
 and dined on a little island at the bottom of it, 
 on which were many 7 bilberries, or whortle¬ 
 berries, which the men called “hirts.” We 
 then went to the rapids, and with some diffi¬ 
 culty 7 “eased” the boat down bv a line in the 
 best channel we could find. On arriving: at 
 the lower rapids, however, we determined on 
 shooting them, which we did safely, and, after 
 again admiring the striking scenery of the 
 cliffs and woods around them, we reached our 
 vessel at sunset. 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 INDIAN FAMILY. 
 
 113 
 
 August 17tli.—I had been too eager to set 
 off, at starting, to extract information from the 
 oltl man living here, while he by no means 
 seemed inclined to communicate it regarding 
 the surrounding country. He now told us, 
 however, that the branch of the river we last 
 visited came out of a large pond on the east, 
 which had a half-moon shape, stretching away 
 to the south farther than either he or his sons 
 had ever penetrated, and that in a south-west 
 gale there was a heavier sea or swell on this 
 lake than was safe for a small boat. He said 
 also that this pond stretched towards St. 
 George’s Bay, at which place I hoped to hear 
 further intelligence of it. On the opposite 
 side of the sound to the old man’s house we 
 found an Indian wigwam, with an old Indian 
 woman and her two daughters, one of the latter 
 of whom has a daughter married to one of the 
 old man’s sons opposite. The old woman had 
 a kind of moustache tattooed on each check, 
 and spoke nothing but Indian, but one of the 
 daughters could speak English. They were 
 busy making baskets and mocassins, and were 
 very neat, tidy, civil people I bought a pair 
 
114 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [CiiAr. III. 
 
 of very pretty mocassins for half a dollar, made 
 of dressed deer-skin (like Woodstock gloves), 
 and ornamented in front with bits of coloured 
 cloth. The wigwam was composed of a frame 
 of poles like that before mentioned, and 
 covered with large strips of birch bark, kept 
 in their places by other poles resting upon 
 them. The top of the cone was left uncovered 
 to let out the smoke, and the door was closed 
 by a curtain of deer-skin. There was a 
 small fire on the ground in the centre, around 
 which was arranged a layer of small boughs 
 and twigs of fir in a circular fan shape, form* 
 ing a mat to sit down on. They sat some¬ 
 thing like Turks, with their legs doubled under 
 them. An Indian man, the husband of one 
 of the daughters, was living with them, but 
 was now away in the woods. 
 
 August 18th, 19th, and 20th.—Calms and 
 contrary winds detained us in various parts of 
 Humber Sound, and we only reached Lark 
 Harbour on the evening of the 20th. We 
 visited one family about half way down the 
 sound that were much more civil and intelli¬ 
 gent people than the old fellow’s family at the 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 WILD FRUITS. 
 
 115 
 
 head of it. Their name was Blanchard, and 
 the old man had lived here about sixty years, 
 having settled there before the breaking out 
 of the American war. He had several sons 
 that were getting married and beginning to 
 settle about him. His house, though small, 
 was neat and comfortable, and he had two or 
 three small fields under cultivation. They 
 were just getting in the hay from one small 
 meadow, and it appeared of good quality. 
 Thev had very good currants, raspberries, and 
 gooseberries in the garden hedges. These 
 three kinds of fruit we also found at various 
 places wild in the woods. At one part of 
 Lark Harbour, where there had been one or 
 two temporary huts and cleared spots, the 
 raspberries were in the utmost profusion, and 
 were equal both in size and flavour to the 
 best garden raspberries of England. Currants 
 were found pretty plentifully also, chiefly on 
 the cliffs, or wherever there was a broken 
 bank with rockv ledges. They were both red 
 and black, and of a different species from our 
 English currant, being covered all over with 
 small spines like the rough red gooseberry : 
 
116 
 
 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. III. 
 
 the branches, too, had occasionally a soft thorn. 
 Their flavour was rather harsh, but still very 
 agreeable, especially when made into puddings. 
 The gooseberries were more rare, but occa¬ 
 sionally we found a small bush, the fruit 
 being small and very sweet, precisely like the 
 small rough red gooseberry of England. 
 
 August 21st.—Set sail, and tried to beat up 
 for St. George’s Bay against a south-west 
 breeze, which, when we had made about 
 fifteen miles, failed us, and for two days it was 
 stark calm. There we lay rolling idly on the 
 long smooth swell, with a burning sun aud 
 not a breath of air, and with the land in sight 
 at a distance of ten miles, through a hazy 
 atmosphere. On the 24th, finding ourselves 
 in soundings, having drifted some distance 
 with the tide, we tied a hook to each end of 
 the log-line, baited it with a piece of pork, 
 and in about an hour and a half we had the 
 deck covered with great cod-fish. There were 
 fifty-five of them, weighing from five pounds to 
 thirty pounds apiece, and the men split them 
 and packed them into the beef-tubs with some 
 brine. Having once caught one, we were at 
 
Chap. III.] 
 
 COD-FISHING- 
 
 117 
 
 no loss for bait, as there was always something- 
 in the stomach of one sufficiently attractive* 
 for another; or, if his stomach was empty, a 
 piece of that itself generally tempted one of his 
 fellows. The most killing bait was a bivalve 
 shell, with its enclosed animal (some species 
 of Glycimeris , I believe G. siliqua , which we 
 found in several of them. 
 
118 
 
 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap.IV. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Cape St. George—St. George’s Bay—Sulleon, an IudiaD, 
 engaged as a guide—St. George’s Inlet — Exploring 
 Party to the Grand Pond or Lake—A Gale thereon— 
 Beautiful Exhibition of Aurora Borealis—Coalbrook— 
 Signs of a Coal-country—Discovery of Coal—Return of 
 Party—Hardships undergone—Hare Hill—Ories Hill- 
 Eligible Sites for new Settlements. 
 
 August 25th.— A light wind during the night 
 from the west had brought us close up to 
 Cape St. George, and we made a tack in 
 order to weather it, when a gale sprang up 
 from the south-west, and we were obliged to 
 take in our topsail, and failed in getting suffi¬ 
 ciently to windward. We then hoisted the 
 topsail and made another tack, the sea rising 
 very rapidly, and barely succeeded in scraping 
 round the point, which is both shoal and 
 rocky. There was a short perpendicular wall 
 of rock at the margin of the water, up which 
 great seas were now jumping and dashing in 
 
Chaf. IV.] 
 
 ST. GEORGE’S BAY. 
 
 119 
 
 a style that would have rendered our escape 
 very problematical had we struck on any¬ 
 thing, or had any of our gear given way at a 
 critical moment. Once fairly round, we easily 
 hauled off into the bay, and then squared the 
 yards and sailed merrily before it. When we 
 were about half-way up the bay we saw the 
 Cleopatra, the frigate on the station, coming 
 out, at which I was greatly annoyed, as I had 
 hoped to have met with her, and had now 
 been twice unsuccessful. St. George’s is a 
 very fine bay, rapidly narrowing towards the 
 head, with two straight shores, each of which 
 affords good anchorage. The only harbour, 
 however, is just at the head, formed by the 
 projection of a narrow spit of sand; and even 
 that seems rapidly filling up with sand, as it 
 is only near the entrance there is water 
 enough for vessels, while the rest of the basin 
 is nearly dry at low water, and is at no place 
 deep enough for anything but a punt. On 
 these low sandy shores at the head of the bay 
 the tide, though not great, becomes very appa¬ 
 rent, rising and falling from five to eight feet. 
 The low spit of sand forming the harbour is 
 in some places covered with a stunted vegeta¬ 
 tion of fir-trees. Just at the point, however, 
 
120 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap.IV. 
 
 these are cleared away, and there is a collec¬ 
 tion of wooden houses scattered about as if 
 they had been taken up from some town by a 
 tornado, and settled here w T hen it ceased. 
 The population seemed to be about half French, 
 and the rest English, Jerseymen, and a few 
 Indians. There might be perhaps 500 or 600 
 people at this time, but these are mostly tran¬ 
 sitory inhabitants. The French all leave in 
 November to return in May, and most of the 
 others retire either to more distant settlements 
 or to houses in the woods on the opposite 
 shore during the winter. There were three or 
 four schooners at anchor, and an old brig, 
 waiting to take fish to St. Pierre.* 
 
 * It may perhaps not be generally known that the fishery 
 along the whole western coast of Newfoundland, from Cape 
 Ray round the north point to Cape John, belongs to the 
 French, or at least that they claim and assert their exclusive 
 right. The words of the treaty, I believe, admit of some 
 dispute; but it is provided that, though the property of the 
 hind is vested in the British crown, neither nation shall 
 make permanent settlements, and the French shall have the 
 right of drying fish on any part of the coast they choose. 
 The provision for non-settlement is practically disregarded 
 by both parties, as the English settle for their own advan¬ 
 tage, and the French connive at or encourage their doing so 
 on condition that they take care of their stores and fishing 
 establishments. They also allow the English settlers to 
 fish within the bays. There is, however, no law r nor author¬ 
 ity, nor means of establishing any, along this coast, every 
 
Chain IV.] 
 
 SULLEON. 
 
 121 
 
 August 26th and 27th. — As the Beaufort 
 had made a deal of water lately, we put her 
 ashore on the beach here, and at low water 
 examined her bottom and caulked her a little, 
 while I strolled about the neighbourhood to 
 make acquaintance with the people, and get 
 intelligence of the interior of the country. I 
 met with an Indian at one of the wigwams, 
 named Sulleon, a very decent fellow, with a 
 good character. He told me that he had a 
 boat on the great pond I had heard of, and 
 that the nearest point of it was within twenty 
 miles of the harbour, and that he knew all the 
 country perfectly well. He said it would take 
 a week to go and come back again, and he 
 agreed to go with me as a guide, taking my 
 four men to carry provisions. 
 
 August 28th.—I had got everything ready 
 for a start this morning, but the weather was 
 unfavourable, and I felt out of spirits, having 
 
 man depending on his own strength to protect himself. A 
 man of war of both nations goes round once a-year to pre¬ 
 vent great disturbances, but, to the honour of the settlers be 
 it said, there are none to prevent. They all of all nations 
 seem to live comfortably and peaceably together; and the 
 only want I heard expressed w as a wish for the establish¬ 
 ment of schools in St. George’s Bay. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 G 
 
122 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. IV. 
 
 got a touch of the influenza, which was very 
 prevalent among the people in the harbour, 
 some of the children having died of it. In the 
 middle of the day there was a thunder-storm, 
 by which the sultry closeness of the air was 
 removed, and the aspect of things greatly 
 renovated. Accordingly, at four p.m. we set 
 out in the boat for the head of the inlet at the 
 extremity of the bay, a distance of ten miles, 
 where we intended to sleep, in order to set off 
 early in the morning. The entrance to this in¬ 
 let is narrow and shoal, and the tide runs in 
 and out with great rapidity. We with difficulty 
 scraped over the bar, then turned short on the 
 starboard hand where there is a deep channel, 
 the centre of the inlet being one great sand¬ 
 bank. All the head of St. George’s Bay 
 seems to be undergoing the process of filling 
 up. The south shores of the bay are composed 
 chiefly of soft red sandstone, the debris of 
 which is washed up the bay by the tide, and 
 sometimes drifted no doubt by the heavy 
 south-west gales. The sand-bank in the inlet 
 extended from its mouth about two-thirds of 
 its length; the upper part had deep water; it 
 was therefore evidently not filled up by the 
 
Chap. IV.] ST. GEORGE S INLET. 123 
 
 washings of the brooks, but by that of the tide. 
 In the middle of the sand-bank lay an old 
 schooner, which had been wrecked outside and 
 drifted in here. At the head of the inlet we 
 found a brook coming in on its south side, 
 nearly 100 yards across, but with a very 
 shallow bed, and full of rocks and boulders. 
 At the mouth of this was a little strand backed 
 by a slight face of rock or little cliff about ten 
 feet high. Against this face of rock some 
 sticks were laid and covered with bark, the 
 ends being closed by posts, with moss stuffed 
 between them. Some stones reared at one 
 end formed the fireplace, and a small square 
 aperture at the other served for a door. The 
 dimensions of this little cabin were about ten 
 feet in length, six feet in width, and the roof 
 sloped from about five feet high on one side 
 down to the ground on the otner. Here we 
 cooked our supper, and, after drying some fir 
 boughs for a bed, lay down to sleep, there 
 being just room enough for six people lying 
 “heads and points,” as the men called it, 
 meaning heads and feet alternately. 
 
 August 29th.—We were up with the dawn, 
 and while the breakfast was cooking Sulleon 
 
 g 2 
 
124 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. IV. 
 
 went to get a shot at some geese, but returned 
 unsuccessful. We then took the boat to the 
 north side of the inlet to the mouth of a little 
 brook, where we hauled her up and secured 
 her to a tree, hiding the oars and mast in the 
 woods. It took us then some time to divide 
 and strap on our several loads. We took in a 
 small sprit-sail for Sulleon’s boat, and a few 
 tools to make a mast and an oar, a bag of 
 bread, a small bag of flour, some pieces of 
 pork, tea, sugar, and molasses, a hatchet or 
 two, a large boat’s kettle and q. tea-kettle, 
 rope, and various other articles. Sulleon had 
 a bundle of his ow n of things he was taking in 
 for his family, as he intended to live at the 
 pond during the winter, besides his gun and 
 ammunition. I had a box-sextant, and pris¬ 
 matic compass, a knapsack, containing note¬ 
 books, and a lot of biscuit, tea, loaf-sugar, two 
 or three pounds of raisins, powder, shot, and 
 balls, a lump of ham, and various other articles, 
 and strapped on the top of it a blanket and 
 mackintosh cape and leggings, besides a ham¬ 
 mer-bag and hammer, a shot-belt and a double- 
 barrelled gun, a small telescope, and lots of 
 tilings in the pockets of my shooting-coat. We 
 
Chap. IV.] WOODS AND MARSHES. 125 
 
 thus had all pretty good loads. We struck, 
 near the mouth of the brook, into a little path 
 leading* through the woods, which none but an 
 Indian would have found, and in about half a 
 mile came out on a marsh. This had a gentle 
 upward slope for about a mile, when it in¬ 
 clined the other way doAvn to a skirt of wood 
 bordering a brook. Scrambling; through this, 
 and walking a little way up the bed of the 
 brook, we got out on another long flat marsh, 
 where we called a halt. I here divested my¬ 
 self of my hammer-bag, and also of my 
 blanket and mackintosh, and distributed them 
 among the men, as I found my load too heavy. 
 After toiling for two miles across this weary 
 marsh we came again to some skirts of wood 
 and a brook, and made some rapid turns 
 among underwood and small wet spots to 
 avoid large masses of wood. We were still 
 gradually rising, and at length got up a steep 
 little ascent on to a high level tract of marsh 
 three or four miles across. The wind was 
 fresh and cool, moderating a little the great 
 heat of the sun; and from the place where we 
 now stood the scenery was very beautiful, but 
 the extreme toil of the journey took away all 
 
•26 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. IV. 
 
 pleasure in looking at it. When we set out 
 Sulleon declared the distance to be about 
 fifteen miles, and we intended to sleep that 
 night on the banks of the pond. It was now 
 three o’clock in the afternoon, and he told us 
 we were only half way. It seems ridiculous 
 to talk of walking seven miles and a half in 
 about as many hours, but I really do not think 
 the distance was more, and yet such was the 
 nature of the country that we all felt knocked up. 
 We toiled on, however, two or three miles far¬ 
 ther, shooting a brace of ptarmigan on our way, 
 when I found it would be hopeless to accom¬ 
 plish the journey before night; and, as Sulleon 
 said there was a tilt in a wood close by, we 
 made for it and found a tolerable hut, with the 
 exception of the roof, which had fallen in. 
 Relieved from our loads, we soon had the roof 
 put to rights and slept soundly, with the ex¬ 
 ception of my luckily waking in the middle 
 of the night just as the moss of the walls near 
 the fire was catching from the flames, and thus 
 saving the house from being burnt down over 
 our heads. 
 
 August 30th.—We awoke rather late this 
 morning, the sun having just risen. Before 
 
Chap. IV.] PARK-LIKE SCENERY. 127 
 
 starting we left sufficient provisions for a meal 
 in the tilt against our return, in case of acci¬ 
 dents, as, notwithstanding our heavy loads, we 
 seemed scarcely to have brought enough to 
 last us a week. It was a lovely morning, with 
 little or no wind. A beautiful valley on our 
 left winded down to St. George’s Bay, over 
 whose expanse we could see blue hills sweep¬ 
 ing round in the distance, while on our right 
 rose wooded eminences with a park-like 
 scenery on their slopes. But oh how unlike 
 a park when we came to traverse it! What 
 would I not have given for a few miles of the 
 fine turf of old England, or even a heathery 
 Scotch mountain; anything but the rough, 
 uneven, scrubby, yet soft and wet spongy mass 
 of moss we had to stumble through, with 
 a step between walking and jumping! The 
 Indian got on most easily, with his toes turned 
 in, his back bent, and a light yet slouching 
 kind of gait, dexterously avoiding both the 
 high knobs and the deep holes, and keeping a 
 steady pace over all impediments. After 
 crossing the large marsh we were in, and two 
 smaller ones, we came to a little circular pond, 
 round which we went, and, passing through 
 
128 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. IV. 
 
 another small marsh, entered the skirt of 
 woods bordering the grand pond. This wood 
 where we crossed it was about three miles 
 wide. The trees generally were by far the 
 finest* I had seen, and they stood wider apart, 
 and were more open and easy to traverse, so 
 that we could see easily twenty or thirty 
 yards on each side of us. Many, however, 
 had fallen across our path, which was by no 
 means too free from obstruction. About half 
 way through the woods we crossed a brook, 
 flowing east, and falling into the pond. We 
 then ascended for some distance up a gentle 
 slope, and at length from the brow of a small 
 cliff* caught our first sight of the Grand Pond. 
 And a beautiful sight it was; a narrow strip 
 of blue water, widening as it proceeded to 
 about two miles, lay between bold rocky pre¬ 
 cipices covered with wood, and rising almost 
 directly from the water to a height of 500 
 or 600 feet, having bare tops a little farther 
 back at a still greater elevation. The pond 
 
 * On the banks of a small brook in this wood I saw a 
 fine ash- tree, which to my eyes seemed the same as the com¬ 
 mon English ash. It was the only one, however, I saw in 
 the country. 
 
Chap. IV.] FIRST VIEW OF THE GRAND POND. 
 
 129 
 
 stretched directly from ns for the first six or 
 seven miles towards the east-south-east, when 
 it curved gradually round towards the north, 
 enclosing the end of a lofty island, and the 
 water passed out of sight between the hills. 
 At the foot of the eminence on which we stood 
 a considerable brook, thirty or forty yards 
 across, but narrow and full of boulders, ran 
 down through the woods towards the pond. 
 Passing down this we came in about a quarter 
 of a mile to Sulleon’s boat, secure and in good 
 condition, on the bank. We here thankfully 
 laid down our burthens, and, after resting a 
 little, I began to feel very unwell, with head¬ 
 ache and the feverish symptoms of influenza; 
 a little tea, however, revived me, and, leaving 
 the men to get ready the boat and bring it 
 down the brook, I walked on with Sulleon to 
 the mouth of the river and the pond. Here 
 we found some black duck,* and shot several, 
 which, all hot and perspiring as I was, 1 fool- 
 
 * Sulleon saw one of these ducks on the wing a long way 
 off, and, pulling me down with him into some bushes, he 
 pinched his nose with his finger and thumb, and then 
 quacked so naturally that the bird flew right over us, and I 
 shot him as he passed. Any device which induces wild 
 animals to come within shot is called “ tolling them.” 
 
 G 3 
 
130 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. IV. 
 
 ishly waded after. A little along the south 
 shore of the lake we found a wigwam, in good 
 repair, of which we took possession, and began 
 putting the boat in order, making a mast and 
 a couple of oars, as there were only two in the 
 boat. We found, by the wigwam, a birch- 
 bark canoe, very nicely made, and of an ele¬ 
 gant shape, which we launched, and amused 
 ourselves by paddling about in it. We did 
 not think it worth while to take it with us, 
 however, as it required a kind of management 
 in which none of us but Sulleon was skilled. 
 We had a grand soup-making this evening of 
 black ducks, which are excellent eating. 
 
 August 31st.—Very unwell this morning, 
 and the weather very bad; we put off, however, 
 in heavy rain, and with the wind dead against 
 us. We were obliged to keep close in-shore, 
 and the boat, being small and heavily laden, 
 made but slow progress. Arrived opposite 
 the end of the island, we found a very good 
 wigwam, where we determined to shelter, and 
 where I lay all day with a head-ache, tooth¬ 
 ache, back-ache, and all the disagreeables of a 
 regular cold. At night there was a violent 
 gale from the north-east, that we expected 
 
Chap. IV.] A GALE ON THE LAKE. 131 
 
 everv minute either to blow down the wig- 
 warn or to bring some of the trees down 
 upon it. 
 
 September 1st.—The lake, at daybreak 
 this morning, was in a sheet of foam, but the 
 north-east wind was evidently moderating, 
 and about seven it shifted to south-west. This 
 being a fair wind for us, we got our things 
 into the boat, and set sail. From the point 
 where we slept the lake divided into two arms, 
 each from half a mile to a mile wide, enclosing 
 an island whose summit rose to the same height 
 as the surrounding hills. Each of the two 
 arms of the lake, therefore, formed a narrow 
 ravine, stretching away for several miles, till, 
 with a gradual curve, they seemed to meet 
 behind the island.* We chose the left hand, 
 or the north-west, of these two arms, as Sulleon 
 said the other was the best to return by, 
 having most “ harbours.” As we sailed across 
 towards the island, we were sheltered by the 
 high land behind us, and had but a gentle 
 breeze, but when we had entered the arm, and 
 got into the draught between the precipices of 
 the mainland on one side and the island on 
 * This island is, in fact, full twenty miles long. 
 
132 
 
 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. IV. 
 
 the other, the wind rapidly increased to a 
 heavy gale. The greater part of these cliffs, 
 though very steep, yet had a sufficient slope 
 for the growth of trees, with an occasional 
 bare face of rock; the last twenty feet, how¬ 
 ever, was usually quite bare, plunging like a 
 sloping wall down into the water, which had an 
 unknow n depth close up to the shore. Sulleon 
 told me he knew T a French fisherman who had 
 brought three fishing-lines into the lake, and 
 at a short distance from the end of the island 
 had failed in finding bottom with them all 
 tied together; now, as a French fishing-line is 
 about thirty-three fathoms in length, this 
 gives a depth of upwards of 100 fathoms. 
 This would make this narrow ravine as deep 
 from the surface of the water to the bottom as 
 it is from the water to the top of the hills. That 
 the water is of great depth is certain, for as we 
 drifted before the blast great rolling waves fol¬ 
 lowed us, higher than our heads, and even 
 calming occasionally the louder part of the sail. 
 This, although only a small sprit-sail, we were 
 . shortly obliged to reef, leaving a triangle not 
 much bigger than a pocket-handkerchief; and 
 even then one man sat with his foot against 
 
Chap. IV.] WILD GEESE. 133 
 
 the step of the mast, while another supported 
 it from behind to prevent its being blown out. 
 Sulleon steered with a paddle, and it was en¬ 
 tirely bv his skill that we were two or three times 
 
 J J 
 
 saved from being swamped by the great rollers 
 that swept after us, and which just curled in 
 occasionally over the stern of the boat. In 
 the midst of all this we came suddenly on five 
 geese, and sent the contents of three barrels 
 after them as they rose, but the boat rolled so 
 much that we both missed ; neither, probably, 
 could w r e have stopped to get it, had we killed 
 one. About twelve o’clock we arrived at the 
 end of the island, which gradually sloped 
 down into comparatively low ground, and, 
 putting into a small sandy cove, we went 
 ashore for a few minutes to stretch our leg's 
 and refresh ourselves. We then again set sail, 
 and as the lake was now three or four miles 
 across, and the hills were getting lower, we no 
 longer had the force of the wind so much con¬ 
 centrated, and sailed rapidly and pleasantly 
 on till about five o’clock, when we were within 
 five or six miles of the head of the pond, and 
 landed in a pleasant little cove on the north¬ 
 west side. We must have sailed at least forty 
 
134 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. IV. 
 
 miles to-day, and as we started seven mile9 
 from one end of the pond, and stopped six or 
 seven from the other end, it gives a length of 
 about fifty-four miles to the pond, which 
 agrees with Sulleon’s computation of eighteen 
 leagues, or fifty-four miles. At the point at 
 which we landed we found the frame of a 
 large wigwam, which we covered with bark to 
 a sufficient height to keep off the wind, and, 
 the night proving fine, we were pretty com¬ 
 fortable. At dusk I walked on along the 
 sandy beach, but was soon stopped by great 
 boulders and masses of rock, requiring a good, 
 light, and steady footing. I sat down on one 
 of them, and gave myself up to the influence 
 of the scene. The wind had sunk to a calm, 
 and the sky was cloudless. Before me lay the 
 lake, perfectly still, except here and there a 
 ripple from a stray breath of air creeping 
 across its surface ; beyond it rose woody hills 
 getting black with the shades of night; over 
 these hills and woods there was no track 
 except the deer-path; in all the country round 
 there was no human being except myself aud 
 the few whose voices I could just hear from 
 the little point, where a small gleam of light 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 AURORA BOREALIS. 
 
 135 
 
 and an occasional spark among- the trees be¬ 
 trayed our bivouac. Except this, not a sound 
 was to be heard,—literally not a sound,—not a 
 ripple of the water, not a stir among the woods, 
 not the hum of a single insect, nor the voice of 
 a single bird. I believe this utter stillness is 
 characteristic of all American woods; in New¬ 
 foundland it is most remarkable: if you hold 
 your breath, your ear cannot detect the slightest 
 interruption to the dead and dreary silence. It 
 may, perhaps, savour of affectation, but there 
 was something most oppressive to my feelings 
 in this utter absence of sound, and I rose to go 
 back, when my eye was struck by the most 
 brilliant aurora I think I ever saw. A belt 
 of yellow light rose in the north-east, and 
 passing just above both the Bears it disap¬ 
 peared in the north-west horizon. It was not 
 a perfect arch, but a sinuous band, and it had 
 a regular onward motion, like that of a 
 waving ribbon, proceeding from the north¬ 
 east to the north-west. The northern edge, or 
 base, of this belt was a clear and well-defined 
 continuous mass of light, while upwards it 
 faded away into faint parallel rays. These 
 rays had no divergence, and seemed to shoot 
 
136 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. IV. 
 
 upwards to a greater or less height from a 
 certain long narrow base or floor, the plane of 
 which was parallel to the surface of the earth. 
 I could have likened it to a long and conti¬ 
 nued army of celestial spearmen, radiant from 
 their own light, marching in dense array, with 
 a regular sweeping course, and gradually un¬ 
 folding themselves from a distant host massed 
 together in the north-east, and passing along 
 'in regular procession towards the north-west. 
 What increased the illusion was, a faint reflec¬ 
 tion of the central band a little distance on each 
 side it, but more perceptibly on the outside, or 
 towards the south, and this reflection followed 
 the primary band in its long sinuosity, exhi¬ 
 biting the same occasional variations of bright- 
 ness, and the same upward glancing of the 
 light. I am sure the rays proceeded not from 
 any point in the north, but shot upwards at 
 right angles to the surface of the earth. I am 
 not sure whether I render this description 
 intelligible, but the effect to me was as if I 
 was viewing a portion of a sinuous collar of 
 light, at a great height above, but generally 
 parallel to some parallel of latitude north of 
 me, and thus encircling the pole of the earth, 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 COAL-BROOK. 
 
 137 
 
 while from this collar perpendicular rays shot 
 upwards. Thus both the arched appearance 
 of the band and the convergence or diver¬ 
 gence of the rays, if there were any, would be 
 the effect of perspective merely. At first the 
 greatest mass of light was in the north-east, 
 but it got less as the stream proceeded from it, 
 without perceptibly increasing in the north¬ 
 west. The effect of this brilliant exhibition in 
 the skv reflected in the still waters of the lake 
 that stretched away beneath it, was majestic in 
 the extreme, and I watched it till its brilliancy 
 began to fade, and at length passed away. 
 There was certainly no noise proceeding from 
 it, or, in the dead stillness of all around, I 
 must have heard it. 
 
 September 2nd.—Sailed across the pond to 
 a small brook near its north-eastern extremity, 
 where Sulleon had been told by another 
 Indian that he had seen a considerable bed of 
 coal about three years ago. We traversed the 
 woods along the bed of the brook for about 
 half a mile, when we came on some small 
 cliffs formed by the washing away of the bank. 
 Most of these were covered with gravel and 
 rubbish from above so as to conceal the regular 
 
138 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. IV. 
 
 strata, which appeared to consist of alterna¬ 
 tions of yellow sandstone and dark shale or 
 indurated clay. About a mile up the brook, 
 however, we came to a small cliff clearly ex¬ 
 posed, and there between thin beds of shale 
 and soft sandstone we found a bed of coal six 
 inches thick, consisting principally of good 
 cannel coal. The bed seen by the Indian was 
 said to be three feet thick, and I have no 
 doubt was now concealed by the rubbish in 
 one of the cliffs below. We went some dis¬ 
 tance farther up the brook, but could find no 
 more beds, though Sulleon picked up a lump 
 of good coal six inches thick, and apparently 
 a part of a larger mass; and as the current of 
 the brook is very rapid, and its bed rocky, it 
 must necessarily have come from above. 
 What I had seen, however, was sufficient to 
 prove that all these clays and sandstones, 
 extending through the flat country round the 
 head of the pond, belonged to a coal formation 
 containing no doubt good beds of workable 
 coal. The flat country we had now arrived at 
 was the same we had reached up the Humber 
 River, the forking of that river near the rapids 
 whence we turned back not being at a greater 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 FLAT COAL-COUNTRY. 
 
 130 
 
 distance than about eight miles from us. This 
 flat country was of very considerable extent 
 towards the north, as from the point where we 
 
 lit I had noticed two or three low 
 
 * 
 
 blue hills rising’ out of it in the distance, 
 which Sulleon said were close to the head of 
 White Bay. The cliffs and hills around the 
 south-west end of the pond were composed of 
 gneiss, mica slate, and granite, the two former 
 of which were the same as the rocks we had 
 found in the lower part of the Humber River. 
 For the geological details, however, I must 
 refer the reader to the report in the Appendix. 
 The air in the woods was most close and 
 stifling, and the moscpiitoes annoying beyond 
 all conception, forming by no means the least 
 of the impediments to steady geologizing in 
 this country. Arriving again at the beach, 
 Sulleon and I walked along it, as it was clear 
 and sandy, and sent the men in the boat to a 
 point about two miles distant, and in the 
 centre of the head of the lake. We here 
 found a fine river coming in from the north, 
 fifty or sixty yards wide and several feet 
 deep. The wind had again risen from the 
 south-west, and the men came in drenched 
 
 slept last nig 
 
HO EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. IV. 
 
 with spray, having had some difficulty in 
 getting the boat off the shore. We found 
 near the mouth of the river a pretty com¬ 
 fortable wigwam, where we dined, after 
 which, as I had now ascertained the fact of 
 the existence of coal, I wished to return, as 
 our provisions began to run short. The wind, 
 however, was too strong to admit of our 
 making way against it, so we set off up the 
 river in hopes of getting some game. We 
 went up the stream for about three miles, till 
 it became gradually too shoal to admit of our 
 easy progress, without finding anything but a 
 solitarv diver, which we shot. 
 
 Sulleon told me that the river, which is 
 easily navigable by a canoe, came out of another 
 pond about six miles off. This pond is eight 
 miles long, but near its southern end the river 
 is again found, and, proceeding up it, three 
 more ponds are met with, each about six miles 
 long, and the last of which is about sixteen 
 miles from Hall’s Bay. The Indians, carrying 
 their canoes overland from this pond, come in 
 about half a mile to another brook, down which 
 they proceed to Hall’s Bay. Returning to the 
 grand pond, about three miles west of the 
 
Chap. IV.] SHORT OF PROVISIONS. Ml 
 
 mouth of the river, an equally large river, if it 
 be not considered the same, runs out of the 
 pond into the Humber River, being the branch 
 of that river from which we last turned back 
 in our former excursion. The distance along 
 the winding of this branch he gave as eight or 
 ten miles, but he said it was too full of rapids to 
 admit of the passage of anything but a canoe, 
 which could be lifted out occasionally and 
 carried. 
 
 On going back to the wigwam we shot a 
 couple of “ twillecks,” a grey long-legged bird, 
 about the size and shape of a plover, that fre¬ 
 quents the shores of the lakes and arms of the 
 sea. These two, with the small duck or diver, 
 served us as dinner and supper that night, 
 and breakfast the next morning, with the 
 addition of tea and a cake of bread each. 
 This was not a very plentiful repast, but with 
 their usual improvidence the men had wasted 
 the provisions while they lasted, and now 
 were likely to fare but poorly unless the wind 
 moderated. 
 
 September 3rd.—At three o’clock this morn¬ 
 ing, the wind having moderated, and the moon 
 being high and bright, we got our things into 
 the boat and rowed off. It was dreadfully 
 
142 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. IV. 
 
 cold till after the sun rose, and then the wind 
 freshened. We held on, however, hugging 
 the western shore of the lake, and by eight 
 o’clock we calculated we had made fifteen 
 miles, when we landed to breakfast. The 
 cliffs here consisted of red marls and sand¬ 
 stones, but upon nearing the island w r e came 
 upon slaty rocks again. As soon as we opened 
 the channel on the north-west side of the 
 island, the wind met us with increased vio¬ 
 lence, so, hoisting the sail of the boat, we crossed 
 over to the entrance of the opposite channel, 
 where we were more sheltered. We here 
 landed to examine some small ponds in the 
 wood in hopes of finding geese, but were dis¬ 
 appointed. We got, however, a quantity of 
 berries, especially a kind the men called 
 “ squash-berries,” a bright red berry, the size 
 of a currant, growing on a straggling bush six 
 or eight feet high. They were pulpy, sharp, 
 and juicy, and not unpleasant. I had brought 
 a pointer with me called Bell, and as we had 
 lately lived chiefly on xvater-birds, whose 
 bones she refused, I had been obliged to share 
 my biscuit with her. I taught her, however, 
 now to eat berries. Soon after entering' the 
 channel between the island and the main we 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 TRACKS OF CARIBOO. 
 
 143 
 
 came to a narrow part where two sandy points 
 stretched opposite to each other. This, Sul- 
 leon said, was a favourite place for deer to 
 swim across, and as we found a good wigwam 
 we camped here for the chance. We found 
 on the sand abundance of the fresh tracks of 
 these deer or cariboo, one of*which was actu¬ 
 ally not dry, the animal having, apparently, 
 come out of the water and gone off at our 
 approach. We waited in vain, however, for 
 more, but luckily shot a couple of divers, 
 which served us for supper. The men’s bread 
 was now all gone, and we had nothing but tea 
 and our guns for support. I had, however, 
 kept in my knapsack a private store of half a 
 dozen biscuits and a piece of ham, against an 
 emergency, as also a bunch or two of raisins, 
 and we had still a little flour left in the bag, 
 for thickening our soup. 
 
 September 4th.—We put off at daylight, 
 and rowed some time against a head rvind, the 
 cliffs on each side getting gradually steeper 
 and more lofty. At eight o’clock we found 
 we had barely made three or four miles, the 
 point we had left being still visible. We were 
 now on the island side of the channel, and, 
 
144 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. IV. 
 
 coming to a little strand where there was a 
 small *wigwam, we landed to breakfast. It 
 would evidently never do to go on at that rate, 
 and, if the wind continued or increased, we 
 might be three or four days in reaching the 
 south-west extremity of the pond, where we 
 had left some provisions. Sulleon said this 
 island was a good place for deer; accordingly 
 I produced the remaining stock of my pro¬ 
 visions, and, sharing them equally among 
 all hands, we determined, after having a 
 tolerable breakfast, to hunt for a cariboo. 
 Leaving two men with the boat, the two 
 others, Sulleon, and myself, set off with our 
 guns. After a stiff and toilsome climb up the 
 woody precipice we arrived at some open 
 marshes at the top, sloping gently towards the 
 centre of the island, where were several ponds, 
 one about three miles long;. There were 
 plenty of deer-tracks, but no deer visible. 
 Among some craggy rocks, however, we found 
 an abundance of bilberries, with which, after 
 walking some hours, we partly satisfied our 
 appetites, and Bell learned soon to pick them 
 for herself. We then separated; Sulleon went 
 down to the pond, while I went up to some 
 

 Chap. IV.] SHOOTING A CARIBOO. 145 
 
 rockv eminences to try to find some ptarmigan, 
 the utter absence of which rather surprised us. 
 After hunting some time in vain, I heard a 
 shot, and shortly after another. Running was 
 out of the question, but I made what haste I 
 could across the marsh to the knoll where I 
 had left the two men stationed with mv rifle. 
 
 J 
 
 They had heard no shot, but on looking about 
 we saw Sulleon sitting on a rock about half a 
 mile off, and on our coming up to him he said, 
 with all the unconcern in the world, “ I hab 
 killed a fat buck.” Following: him down 
 through a thicket into a little marsh, we found 
 the fellow lying on his back, a great beast as 
 big as a small heifer, and shot right through 
 the heart. Sulleon had seen him swim across 
 the pond in the centre of the island, watched 
 where he landed, and stole down through the 
 tangled woods, as none but an Indian can 
 steal, till he came within thirty yards of the 
 beast without disturbing him. We shortly 
 had him skinned, embowelled, cleaned, and 
 cut up. Sulleon being used to it doubled up 
 one side for his load, which could not be less 
 than a hundred-weight, my two men took a 
 VOL. i. 
 
 H 
 
146 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. IV. 
 
 quarter each, while I made a bundle of the 
 lower jaw with the tongue, the heart, the 
 liver, and a good portion of the tripe, &c., 
 selected by Sulleon, and used by him for 
 different purposes, all wrapped up in the skin. 
 We were now three miles from the boat, the 
 island being five miles across, and had a pretty 
 stiff march across the marshes and barrens 
 under a hot evening sun and our sufficiently 
 heavy loads. We were, however, all in high 
 spirits; and on reaching the precipitous wooded 
 bank of the lake we started on a kind of race 
 to see which should be first to carry the news 
 to the boat. We consequently all lost our 
 way in the woods, all had tumbles, and my 
 bundle fell from my back, and its contents got 
 loose, by which means I arrived last at the 
 camp. Great was the frying, roasting, boiling, 
 frizzling, and stuffing of maws, Bell being by 
 no means the least happy of the party, as 
 venison liver and bones met with her decided 
 approval. Great also was the talking and 
 laughing; and when Sulleon told us in his 
 quiet grave manner that, in coming down the 
 woods, “ I fell, my God, at least ten yards!” 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 TIDE IN THE POND. 
 
 \47 
 
 one would have thought it an excellent sally 
 of wit by the peals of laughter with which it 
 was echoed,— 
 
 “ For mountain lads can lof at turning of a straw.” 
 
 Our only drawback v r as the want of bread and 
 salt, but nothing in this life can be perfect. 
 There was a fine aurora at night, but the rocks 
 and woods above and opposite to us inter¬ 
 cepted our view of it. Soon after there were 
 some heavy showers of rain, but 
 
 “ After that fitful supper we slept well.” 
 
 September 5th.— At dawn this morning we 
 stowed our meat and baggage in the boat, cover¬ 
 ing it with the deer skin. The morning was per¬ 
 fectly calm, but foggy, with occasional showers. 
 I noticed before we went off that a piece of 
 wood which we threw into the water floated 
 regularly alongshore in the direction we were 
 going, or towards the south-west end of the 
 pond. Sulleon said there was often a tide in the 
 pond after a high wind. This is no doubt caused 
 by the banking up of the water at one end 
 from the pressure of the wind. There is only 
 one brook runs out of the pond,—namely, that 
 
 h 2 
 
H8 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. IV. 
 
 at the north-west corner, which goes to join 
 the Humber, whose stream is quite inconsider¬ 
 able compared with the body of water in the 
 lake, and therefore could produce no current 
 either way. Sulleon told me this morning 
 that he had spent two or three severe winters 
 on the banks of the Grand Pond; and that 
 while about fifteen miles of the north-east end 
 of it was frozen over completely every winter, 
 he had never seen the southern part near the 
 island “ set fast,” or sufficiently frozen over to 
 enable him to cross. This fact goes in corrobo¬ 
 ration of the statement of the enormous depth 
 of the south-west end of the pond, where the 
 water is narrow and the banks lofty, compared 
 with the north-east end, where the lake is 
 broader and the shores flat. The bottom of the 
 lake at its south-west end must be 300 or 400 
 feet at least below the level of the sea. One 
 is puzzled to understand the formation of such 
 a deep narrow ravine among these hills, the 
 height of the hills above the sea being by no 
 means great. But, indeed, these narrow cre¬ 
 vices are frequent in Newfoundland, and more 
 frequent beneath the level of the sea than 
 above it, as the number of narrow inlets eating 
 
Chap. IV.] 
 
 DEPTH OF THE POND. 
 
 149 
 
 into the coast will testify, they having often a 
 length of ten or twenty miles, a breadth of one 
 or two, and a depth of upwards of 100 fathoms, 
 while the cliffs on each side of them are often 
 not more than 100 feet in height. Two faults 
 near together throwing down the intermediate 
 piece might explain these clefts, but their 
 course is often winding, while we should con¬ 
 ceive that two parallel faults of that magnitude 
 would almost necessarily be straight. 
 
 The morning continuing quite calm we 
 rowed steadily on, and reached the south-west 
 extremity of the lake between two and three 
 o'clock. Sulleon then proceeded to cut some 
 of the meat of the venison into long strips, 
 which he hung up in the wigwam on sticks 
 over the fire, and meant to leave it there till 
 we came in with his family. The Indians drv 
 the venison in the smoke in this way till it 
 assumes the appearance of old leather, and 
 then use it without cooking, carrying it with 
 them in their hunting excursions. Sulleon 
 told me that he himself had killed upwards of 
 fifty deer during the last winter chiefly by 
 watching them swim across the lake at par¬ 
 ticular points, and then chasing them in his 
 
150 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap.IV; 
 
 canoe and stabbing them in the water with a 
 short iron spear, which is always kept in the 
 canoe for that purpose. The English settlers 
 have a more cruel method, as when they catch 
 a deer in the water they break his back with a 
 hatchet. The animal can then still swim, 
 and they drive it before them; but the moment 
 it gets on shore it falls, when they dispatch it. 
 This is simply to save themselves the trouble 
 of hauling it into the boat or towing it after 
 them, and I was glad to see Sulleon join me 
 in expressing abhorrence of such unnecessary 
 cruelty. When Sulleon had taken what meat 
 he wanted we took the bones out of the re¬ 
 mainder and packed it up to carry out. We 
 then amused ourselves in firing at a mark 
 and paddling the canoe. This canoe, made 
 merely of birch bark sewed neatly over a light 
 frame of thin wood, looks the frailest of all nut¬ 
 shells. It will live, however, they say, in a 
 heavy sea merely from its lightness and buoy¬ 
 ancy. It was about ten feet long and two feet 
 broad, sharp at both ends and round-bottomed, 
 and I have certainly no wish ever to experience 
 its qualities in a heavy sea or a gale of wind. 
 I was told that Indians had crossed in them 
 
Chap. IV.J 
 
 WET WOODS. 
 
 151 
 
 from Cape North in the island of Cape Breton 
 to Cape Ray in Newfoundland, a distance of 
 sixty or seventy miles, part of it out of sight of 
 land; but I should greatly doubt the truth of 
 the statement. 
 
 September 6th.—In setting out this morning 
 we were delayed a good deal by getting the 
 boat aground at the mouth of the brook, and 
 having to drag it up into a place of conceal¬ 
 ment. It was thus half-past seven o’clock 
 before we had fairly got our loads on our 
 shoulders and set off into the woods. The 
 morning was heavy and dull, with a driving 
 fog and an easterly wind, and just as we set 
 off it began to rain. The first plunge into the 
 bushes wetted us to the skin, and was like step¬ 
 ping into a cold bath. Every stick was so wet 
 and slippery that it took us nearly four hours 
 to get through the three miles of wood, being 
 delayed, however, twenty minutes by one of 
 the men dropping his bundle and losing his 
 way. On getting out -mto the barrens and 
 marshes we found the wind very cold and 
 driving a deluge of rain upon our backs. 
 W ith great care we managed to keep our guns 
 dry for some time; and coming down on a 
 
152 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. IV. 
 
 little pond we shot a black duck. Presently 
 after we came on a covey of ptarmigan, quite 
 tame, and apparently unwilling to get up; of 
 these we shot three brace. At one o’clock we 
 reached the tilt in the woods where we had 
 slept as we came in. We were now tho¬ 
 roughly drenched. Determined to make a 
 bold push to get back to St. George’s Harbour 
 and our little vessel to-night, I only allowed 
 one hour to cook and eat dinner and tea and 
 start again. Accordingly, at two o’clock we 
 were again on our way, and toiled vigorously 
 over the soaked marshes, and through the cold 
 wet woods. We saw abundance of ptarmigan 
 and several flocks of wild geese, but by this 
 time our guns were useless from the wet, and 
 we had no time to spare had they been dry. 
 Between four and five we made a simultaneous 
 halt beside a small brook, and one and all 
 declared we could go no farther without some¬ 
 thing to eat. We accordingly unpacked some 
 cold venison; and I got out a lump of sugar I 
 had left, and dissolving it in water made one 
 of the most pleasant and refreshing draughts 
 that can be taken on a hard march. Sulleon 
 said venison was the weakest of all meat, 
 
CllAP.IV.] 
 
 A HARD DAYS WALK. 
 
 153 
 
 meaning that one became sooner hungry again 
 after eating it. Salt pork, he said, satisfied 
 the appetite longer than anything else. In 
 passing over the last two or three miles of 
 march the men began to flag very much, as 
 our bundles and clothes being saturated with 
 wet increased our burdens somewhat. Sulleon 
 also complained of a pain in his stomach from 
 over-fatigue. We kept steadily on, however, 
 and just as it was beginning to get dusk 
 reached the last ridge and the skirt of the last 
 half mile of w'ood. We had some difficulty in 
 hitting on the little track among the bushes at 
 the skirt of the wood, and had we missed it all 
 our labour would have been in vain, and we 
 must have passed the night where we were. 
 Luckily, however, Sulleon smelt it out, and 
 traversing the woods as rapidly as we could 
 we reached our boat just as it got too dark to 
 proceed any farther. Here we gladly threw 
 down our bundles, hauled the boat into deep 
 water, stepped the mast and bent the sail, and 
 were soon rapidly drifting down the inlet 
 before a strong east wind. For the first quar¬ 
 ter of an hour we were in high spirits, but as 
 the cold wind blew through our wet clothes 
 
 h 3 
 
154 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. IV. 
 
 the talking and laughing gradually died away, 
 and we sat shivering in the boat in silence. 
 Though wrapped in my blanket and cape, I 
 think I never passed a more wretched time of 
 two hours and a half than this, as, crouched in 
 the stern of the boat, I in vain peered through 
 the darkness to get a glimpse of some light on 
 shore or the form of some land by which to 
 mark our progress. At length we passed into 
 the harbour, struck the side of our vessel, up 
 which I could hardly climb for numbness, and 
 astonished Gaden the skipper with our appear¬ 
 ance at this time of night. A glass of brandy 
 all round, however, prepared us for a supper 
 of hot venison ; and taking off my clothes for 
 the first, time for ten days, I soon slept off 1 the 
 fatigue between the blankets in my berth. 
 
 September 7th.—Very busy all day writing 
 out notes, drawing maps, &c. Just by the 
 south-west extremity of the Grand Pond is a 
 large bare round-topped hill, plainly visible 
 from St. George’s Harbour, from which it 
 bears due north-east, true bearings. This hill 
 Sulleon called Hare Hill, from the abundance 
 of hares upon it. It must be about 1000 feet 
 in height. None of the land we passed over 
 
CuAr. IV.] 
 
 ORIF.S HILL. 
 
 155 
 
 rose more than 400 or 500 feet above the sea, 
 and a road might readily be constructed across 
 it. If necessary at any time, by means of a 
 few canoes, an easy communication might then 
 be kept up by means of the ponds and rivers 
 between St. George’s Bay and Hall’s Bay. 
 A hill on the south-east side of the pond, 
 about ten miles from its north-eastern extre¬ 
 mity, called by Sulleon Ories Hill, is a con¬ 
 spicuous object. The contrary winds and our 
 shortness of provisions would not allow me to 
 visit it, which I regretted greatly, as from its 
 summit Sulleon said the Red Indian Pond 
 might be seen a day’s journey to the east, and 
 a very lofty hill forty miles off (by his esti¬ 
 mate) in the south-east, which may probably 
 be the Mount Misery or Jamieson’s Mountain 
 of Mr. Cormack. Were the western side of 
 the island settled, the banks of the Humber 
 and the north end of the Grand Pond would 
 be by far the most favourable spots for an 
 inland population. The soil is richer, and the 
 inland communication might be greatly ex¬ 
 tended by means of a few roads between the 
 ponds and rivers. 
 
156 
 
 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap.V. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Raised Beach—Crab’s River—A bed of Coal—’South side 
 of St. George’s Bay—A Storm—Gypsum beds—Red 
 Indians—Adventures with—Their Superstitions—Coal— 
 Wreck of the Onondago—Narrow Channel. 
 
 September 8th.—Sailed from St. George’s 
 Harbour, and examined Indian Head and the 
 north shore of the bay. It was a most lovely 
 day, and the chain of hills that sweep from 
 the south-west round the head of the harbour, 
 and pass off towards the north, showed to 
 great advantage, with their patches of light 
 and shade, their sunny peaks and dark hol¬ 
 lows. 
 
 September 9th.—Landed in Ship Cove. 
 The whole of the north shore consists of low 
 perpendicular cliffs of yellow magnesian lime¬ 
 stone, very straight, and with scarcely any 
 indentation. Just east of Ship Cove is another 
 small cove at the mouth of a little valley, 
 
Chap. V.] 
 
 RAISED BEACH. 
 
 157 
 
 down which a small brook runs out to the sea. 
 The valley is full of clay, mingled with bould¬ 
 ers, on the top of the crumbling cliffs of which 
 I found a number of loose, partly decomposed 
 shells. They consisted of Mya arenaria, a 
 species of Pholas, and one or two small species 
 of Tellina. The same species of shells are 
 abundant in different parts of the bay, but 1 
 did not see any in this cove, the beach of 
 which is covered with large pebbles. For 
 want of a spade I could not ascertain whether 
 the shells were buried in the clay to any 
 depth, and what I found on the slope of the 
 bank might have been brought by birds, and 
 buried slightly by clay washed down by the 
 rains. It was, however, the only spot in 
 which any kind of evidence could be found to 
 show a recent elevation of the coast of any 
 part of Newfoundland which I visited, and 
 here the evidence was uncertain, to say the 
 least of it. The shells generally, on the coast 
 of Newfoundland, are rare, both in species and 
 individuals, and are only found in such places 
 as St. George’s Bay, and the few inlets in 
 which there is shoal water, and a sandy or 
 muddy bottom. 
 
158 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. V. 
 
 In the evening we beat up to the southern 
 shore of the bay, and anchored under a head¬ 
 land, and during the night it blew a very 
 heavy gale of wind from the south. 
 
 September 10th.—Went to the mouth of 
 Crab’s River, in order to explore for the coal 
 reported to exist on the south side of St 
 George’s Bay. This is a considerable brook, 
 but has only depth of water enough to admit 
 even such a small craft as ours at spring tides. 
 There were two houses near it, in which were 
 English settlers; and we got two men to aid us 
 in warping the Beaufort over the bar into the 
 little cove at the mouth of the river, where, 
 when she was secured, there was but just room 
 to row a boat round her. The cliffs here con¬ 
 sisted of soft red and white sandstones, and 
 red and variegated marls. The top of the 
 cliffs, for about a hundred yards in width and 
 a mile or two in length, was occupied by a 
 fine short turf, like that of a sheep-down. 
 At the back of this stood the usual dense 
 wood, but the relative number of the different 
 species of trees was not the same as on the 
 slate rocks. There were more aspens, and 
 other branching trees, and fewer firs and 
 
Chap. V.] 
 
 CRABS RIVER. 
 
 159 
 
 larches. The country, in the interior, was 
 gently undulating for some distance, and more 
 like some parts of England than any I had 
 yet seeu in Newfoundland. The people, too, 
 seemed more agricultural than in other parts, 
 with poultry and cattle about them. They 
 informed me that the only place in which coal 
 was to be seen was in the banks of a brook 
 about three miles above them, and some miles 
 from the coast. 
 
 September 11th.—Soon after daylight we 
 set off in the boat for this other brook, and 
 landed at its mouth. It was a very pretty 
 little spot, with green meadows on each side 
 of it, and two or three neat clean houses clus¬ 
 tered under the shelter of a rising bank 
 covered with green turf. Geese were feeding 
 on the grass, ducks and poultry were scattered 
 about, and a few cows and some sheep gave it 
 all the appearance of a pastoral scene at home. 
 There was actually a fence and a stile to get 
 over into a small field with a footpath across 
 it, a sight quite refreshing to the eyes after so 
 many months looking at wild rocks and 
 dreary woods. Mr. Morris, the patriarch of 
 the settlement, came and invited me to sit 
 
160 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap.V. 
 
 down to breakfast with them, when I found 
 plenty of fresh milk, eggs and butter, hot 
 bread, excellent tea, and a snow-white table¬ 
 cloth. It really seemed a little paradise. 
 Stephen Shears, his son-in-law, who had a 
 house close by, volunteered to “ pilot” us up 
 the brook to a place where he had himself 
 seen coal. From the rising ground behind 
 the houses the view was very beautiful. A 
 tract of low undulating land, covered with a 
 rich sea of wood, stretched away into the inte¬ 
 rior for fifteen or twenty miles, and was 
 backed by a range of blue hills in the horizon 
 that rose towards the south-west, into a still 
 loftier range running to Cape Ray, while 
 towards the north-east they gradually died 
 away, and coalesced with the hills at the head 
 of the bay. The wood was not of the sombre 
 hue so generally seen in the country, but was 
 patched with the light green of the birch, and 
 what they here called the “ wych hazel,” the 
 “ barm,” and the “ aps.” I think, also, there 
 were ash-trees, but could not be sure. The 
 little rich-looking valley of the brook, with its 
 bright waters winding away into the woods, 
 completed a most lovely, and almost English, 
 
Chap. V.] BROOK NEAR CHAU'S RIVER. 161 
 
 picture. We passed over the hill, and 
 descended into the valley of another small 
 brook close by, to the west of the former one. 
 Up this brook we proceeded. Its width 
 varied from 20 to 100 yards, and it was 
 generally shallow, and its bed full of enor¬ 
 mous boulders, much rounded. These bould¬ 
 ers consisted chiefly of gneiss and granite, and 
 Shears said they were moved and brought 
 down by the ice in the spring. We had fre¬ 
 quently to cross the brook to take advantage 
 of the various little banks of shingle or sand. 
 The rest of the journey consisted of a com¬ 
 pound of wading and jumping from one slip¬ 
 pery block to another. We bad, however, no 
 burdens, except a pick-axe and shovel, and a 
 bag to bring away anything we might find. 
 The banks of the brook, at first, consisted of 
 red and white sandstone, and marls dipping 
 north-west, or towards the sea. These marls 
 and sandstones were exactly like the new red 
 sandstone of England; and as they inclined 
 from the country where the coals were said to 
 be, I was marvelling at the exact coincidence 
 of the relations between the two formations in 
 such distant countries, and inclined at once to 
 
162 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap.V. 
 
 set down these red sandstones as new red 
 sandstone. After proceeding about three 
 miles, however, I came upon some perpen¬ 
 dicular beds, and after that found all the red 
 sandstones and marls dipping the contrary 
 way, or towards the coal country. After pro¬ 
 ceeding some distance, these red marls and 
 sandstones began to alternate with dark blue 
 clays containing gypsum, brown sandstones, 
 and conglomerates, and presently with dark 
 grey indurated shale, or clunch. The grey 
 and yellow sandstones and shales then began 
 to preponderate over the red ones, and occa¬ 
 sionally a bed of black, bituminous shale was 
 observable. I then began to perceive that the 
 red sandstones and marls composed, in fact, 
 the base, or lower beds of the coal formation; 
 and, to make a long story short, we came, at 
 a distance of eight or ten miles from the 
 shore, on a bed of coal at the top of a small 
 bank, resting on grey clunch and sandstone, 
 from under which, at no great distance, a bed 
 of red marl cropped out. We immediately 
 set to work with pickaxe and shovel, and after 
 filling our bag with the best pieces of coal, we 
 made a fire on the beach, and had a famous 
 
CH*r. V.j 
 
 A BED OF COAL. 
 
 163 
 
 blaze with coals of our own digging. The 
 coal is of a good quality, and a good deal of it 
 is cannel coal. The bed exposed was between 
 two and three feet thick, but as the top was 
 wanting, it may belong to a still thicker bed. 
 The bank immediately beyond it ended, and 
 thus cut off its further extension, neither was 
 there any appearance of it farther up. Shears 
 said this was the only spot he knew in which 
 coal appeared at the surface of the ground. 
 There is, of course, no doubt of there being 
 more beds in the vicinity, and of the proba¬ 
 bility of all the centre of this low district 
 being occupied by a productive coal-field. We 
 certainly cannot tell what the future mav 
 bring forth, but at present this coal-field must 
 he entirely dormant, as, from its distance from 
 the coast, it cannot compete with the exten¬ 
 sive coal-fields of Cape Breton and Nova 
 Scotia, now in work. After eating a lunch 
 we set out on our return, and got back just at 
 sunset wet up to the middle, although the day 
 had been a beautiful one. Thev gave us some 
 tea, and soon after dark we got into our boat, 
 pulled through a rolling surf, and reached 
 Crab’s River in about an hour. 
 
164 
 
 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. V. 
 
 September 12th.—Stephen Shears came 
 down this morning, to beg me to write some 
 letters for them, to their friends at home. He 
 had been an apprentice in Devonshire twenty- 
 five years ago, and when about sixteen ran 
 away and came out here. He served his pre¬ 
 sent father-in-law as a hired labourer some 
 time, till he gradually accumulated a little 
 money. He had now eleven cows, three oxen, 
 and a bull, twelve sheep, a house at the brook 
 for a summer residence, another house in the 
 woods for the winter, where he had also a 
 garden: he had also a few roods of ground 
 cleared, which he had sown this summer with 
 French wheat, which, he said, thrived very 
 well. A few years before he had married his 
 old master’s daughter. His father-in-law, 
 Morris, himself originally came out as he did, 
 ■without a farthing, and now they were all 
 happy, comfortable, and independent. The 
 only want which Shears expressed was that of 
 books and schooling, for himself and his chil¬ 
 dren, and he begged me very earnestly, if ever 
 I came that way again, to bring him some. I 
 had none with me, but books of reference on 
 scientific subjects, or I should certainly have 
 
105 
 
 Chap. V.] SOUTH SIDE OF ST. GEORGE'S BAY. 
 
 given him some. He says the snow here 
 generally sets in about three weeks before 
 Christmas, and breaks up in the beginning ot 
 April. The climate, during the summer, is 
 very fine, and certainly, while I was in St 
 George’s Bay, nothing could exceed the beauty 
 of the weather. 
 
 Existing treaties will, I suppose, preclude 
 the regular settlement of this neighbourhood, 
 but as far as its natural capabilities and re¬ 
 sources go, St. George’s Bay and its neigh¬ 
 bourhood is by far the most inviting part of 
 Newfoundland. It is, indeed, the only part in 
 which agriculture could flourish so as to be- 
 come part of the resources of the country, and 
 is likewise the only part which has any mineral 
 wealth to boast of. Had the western shore of 
 the island been the eastern, it would, before 
 this time, have contained a populous and flou¬ 
 rishing community. 
 
 At twelve o’clock to-day, being the top ot 
 high water, we managed to scrape out over 
 the bar, getting one knock, however, from 
 a hard rock, some great boulder, probably, 
 brought down by the ice out of the river. 
 We then stood out into the bay, for Cape 
 
EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chaf.V. 
 
 Angnille, but, there being a light wind from 
 the west, did not make much way. 
 
 September 13th.—Light breeze from east- 
 south-east, with clouds and heavy rain. Dou¬ 
 bled Cape Anguille, and entered by a rocky 
 channel into the little harbour about three 
 miles south of it, formed by a small island 
 called Codroy Island. There were two small 
 schooners at anchor there, and a few huts 
 on the island belonging to French fishermen, 
 while on the shore were a few English settlers. 
 It rained hard all day, and the wind gradually 
 increased from the east. After dark it was 
 blowing a gale from the south-east, which 
 seemed to increase every minute. We got 
 out another anchor, and about seven the two 
 schooners dragged their anchors, and one of 
 them drifted down upon us, but luckily 
 brought up before she fouled us. As Gaden 
 and I were talking in the cabin, we also began 
 to drift, one of our anchors having loosed its 
 hold. On coming on deck we found it pitch 
 dark, and the wind blowing so furiously that 
 we could hardly stand. I could just make 
 out the outline of the land close bv us, and 
 saw, by its apparent motion, that we were 
 
Chap. V.] 
 
 GALE OF THE 13TH. 
 
 167 
 
 drifting rapidly. We were obliged to stoop 
 below the bulwarks, and shout in each other’s 
 ears to make ourselves heard. There was 
 no sea, as the wind blew off-shore, but the 
 whole surface of the water was a sheet of 
 white foam, which the blast tore up and 
 shot into our faces, making them smart as 
 if the spray were crystals of salt. We veered 
 away all our cable, and when within fifty 
 yards of the point of the island forming the 
 harbour, the water getting shoal and the 
 bottom more sandy, our anchors again bit 
 well, and we held on. Here we determined 
 to run her ashore, cut away our masts, or 
 even take to the boats and abandon her, rather 
 than be blown out to sea in such a night; and 
 I went to pack up my note-books and other 
 light valuables in case of necessity. We held 
 on here for some time, but swung occasionally 
 in-shore, and presently began to strike heavily. 
 By shifting the yards and the helm we sheered 
 off into deeper water, but still struck once or 
 twice. I turned into my berth at ten o’clock, 
 but left my pea-jacket, with my watch and 
 note-books, ready for a start should it be 
 necessary. Between twelve and one the wind 
 
168 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap.V. 
 
 moderated a little, and at one o’clock, just at 
 high water, the wind suddenly shifted into the 
 north-west. They took this opportunity of 
 getting the vessel back into a safe berth, 
 which they effected with some difficulty. For 
 the remainder of the night the wind blew from 
 the north-west as hard as it had done from the 
 south-east, and we had every reason to con¬ 
 gratulate ourselves on being where we were. 
 
 September 14th.—The wind a little mode¬ 
 rated, but still blowing hard from the north¬ 
 west. The channel by which we came in was 
 now a wide-spread bed of breakers. Standing 
 on the corner of the little island and looking 
 towards Cape Anguille the sight was magnifi¬ 
 cent. Long waving ridges of sweltering water, 
 with flickering tops like small mountain peaks, 
 came rolling successively towards the land, 
 rose and curled over when they touched the 
 rocks, and fell in regular cataracts of foam 
 like the falls of some great river. I at one 
 time could count from six to seven of these 
 great ridges of water, for they could hardly 
 be called waves, each two or three miles long, 
 coming in regularly one behind the other. It 
 was not possible to land on the main, as the 
 
Chap. V.] 
 
 STORM—GYPSUM BEDS. 
 
 169 
 
 sea curled round each end of the island into 
 
 the little harbour and caused a heavy surf on 
 
 the opposite shore. There were several small 
 
 fishino-boats in the harbour sunk at their an- 
 © 
 
 chors. 
 
 September 15th.—Fine, with light air from 
 the south-east, so could not proceed to the river 
 which I wished to visit. Found the stock of 
 one of our anchors broken. Landed on the 
 main and examined the cliffs, in which there 
 was a great quantity of excellent gypsum in 
 beds and veins. Heard of a laro;e vessel beim>- 
 ashore near Cape Ray, sails all set, and no one 
 in her. Many boats lost along the coast. 
 
 September 16th, 17th. — Wind south-east, so 
 could not get out of the harbour. A schooner 
 from the Magdalen Islands came in that had 
 been out in the gale. They said it was the 
 heaviest they ever knew. Her deck-boat was 
 smashed from end to end by a heavy sea. 
 
 September 18th.— Calm. Towed the Beau¬ 
 fort out of the harbour into the mouth of the 
 river, called the Great Codvcr River. A large 
 harbour is formed by a long spit of sand across 
 the mouth of the river. At low water, how¬ 
 ever, most of it is dry, with the exception of 
 
 VOL. i. 
 
 i 
 
170 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. V. 
 
 the channel of the river, which has a depth of 
 ten or twelve feet. Two or three English 
 families, with cattle, reside on the south side, 
 and one or two Irish, with some pigs, on the 
 north. On the sandy point were three Indian 
 wigwams. All the men had left the place and 
 gone down to the wreck, except two old Indians 
 and a young one, who was a cripple. This 
 young Indian was about thirty, a fine intelli’ 
 gent fellow, with a noble countenance and 
 piercing black eye. About two years ago he 
 had fallen, while carrying a barrel of flour, 
 and his back was so severely injured that he 
 has not been able since to walk without 
 crutches. His wife was an exceedingly pretty 
 woman, with a Grecian countenance, dark but 
 ruddy complexion, and a sweet smile. She 
 spoke no English, and was very modest aud 
 reserved. Thej 7 had been married ten years 
 and had three children. Her husband gave 
 me much information as to the interior of 
 the country, aud an animated description of 
 Iris having once seen a Red Indian fishing in 
 a river in the interior. This was about twelve 
 years before, and since that time he had 
 neither seen nor heard anything of the exist- 
 
Chap. V.] 
 
 THE RED INDIANS. 
 
 171 
 
 ence of the Red Indians, although before his 
 accident he had traversed every part of the 
 western side of the island. 
 
 When Newfoundland was first visited by 
 Europeans it was peopled by a race of Indians 
 who, from the colour of their skins and from 
 the red ochre with which they smeared them¬ 
 selves and everything belonging to them, were 
 called Red Indians. They were no doubt the 
 same aboriginal race as the red men of the 
 
 continent of North America. Thev were at 
 
 •/ 
 
 first friendly, but in process of time a deadly 
 enmity arose between them and the whites, so 
 that neither spared the other. There is too 
 much reason to believe that the greatest atro¬ 
 cities were committed upon these Indians by 
 the rude fishermen wdio settled in different 
 parts of Newfoundland. They complained that 
 the Indians stole their boats and nets, and they 
 shot them down whenever they saw them. 
 Stories are current too of persons having gone 
 into the interior on purpose to hunt the Red 
 Indians, and shoot them for the sake of the 
 furs and skins they had about them. Thus, 
 partly from actual slaughter, and partly from 
 the best parts of the coast being occupied by 
 
 i 2 
 
I 72 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. V. 
 
 Europeans, the Red Indians seem to have 
 decreased rapidly in numbers. At the begin¬ 
 ning of the last century a body of Mic Mac 
 Indians, partly civilized and converted to the 
 Roman Catholic faith, either came or were 
 sent from Nova Scotia, and settled in the 
 western part of Newfoundland. These were 
 armed with guns and hunted the country, 
 making great havoc amongst the game. A 
 quarrel soon arose—perhaps on this account — 
 between them and the Red Indians; and Sul- 
 leon gave me a confused account of a battle 
 that took place between them at the north end 
 of the Grand Pond about seventy years ago. 
 In this the Red Indians were defeated, as they 
 were armed only with bows and arrows, and, 
 according to Sulleon’s statement, every man, 
 woman, and child was put to death. About 
 fifteen years ago attempts were made by a 
 society, formed in St. John’s, to open a com¬ 
 munication with the remainder of these Red 
 Indians, but without success; and Lieutenant 
 Buchan, with a party from a man of war, 
 having surprised and surrounded a tribe of Red 
 Indians, near Exploits Bay, tried to conciliate 
 them, and invited two of them on board his 
 
Chap. V.] ADVENTURES WITH THE RED INDIANS. I 73 
 
 vessel, leaving two of his marines as hostages. 
 The Indians, however, escaped, and returning 
 to their encampment, he found it deserted and 
 the bodies of his two marines lying on the 
 ground without their heads. Subsequently to 
 that, one or two women were captured, and one 
 lived in St. John’s some years. No Red In¬ 
 dians, however, had been seen in any part of 
 the island for the last ten years, and I believe 
 the last remnant of them have either perished 
 or have passed over to the Labradore. Such, 
 however, is not the opinion of the settlers in 
 the distant outports. While on the Grand 
 Pond my men were in continual dread of 
 meeting the Red Indians, and their feeling to¬ 
 wards them may be estimated by their open 
 avowal that if they saw one they should fire at 
 him as if he were a wolf. Their astonishment 
 was really amusing when I told them that, if 
 they did meet one and shot him without pro¬ 
 vocation, I should do my best to have them 
 hanged on their return to St. John’s. They 
 evidently looked upon them as wild animals 
 of a pernicious character. 
 
 The Mic Mac Indians inhabiting Newfound- 
 
174 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. V. 
 
 land reside chiefly on its western side, wan¬ 
 dering from Fortune Bay to St. George’s, and 
 thence to White Bay and the Bay of Exploits, 
 living in the winter on the products of the chase, 
 and in the summer joining in the fishery, or 
 getting other desultory employment. Their 
 number probably does not exceed a hundred 
 families, and they bear on the whole a good 
 character. A few of them are worthless vas;a- 
 bonds, and, especially when intoxicated, are 
 not to be depended on ; but the greater num¬ 
 ber are honest, well-meaning fellows, and 
 when well treated are faithful and steadfast. 
 Sulleon and the cripple at Codwy River were 
 men of a superior stamp, both morally and in¬ 
 tellectually ; and had the latter been well and 
 unhurt, I would rather have had them for 
 companions in the interior than any of the 
 Europeans I met on the coast. They are all 
 Roman Catholics; and Sulleon’s daughter hav¬ 
 ing been recently married to a young Indian 
 when I was in St. George’s, they had gone 
 across the country to White Bay, a short time 
 before our expedition, to have the ceremony 
 performed by a Roman Catholic priest, who, 
 
Chap. V.J SUPERSTITIONS OF THE INDIANS. 175 
 
 they heard, was travelling upon the north coast 
 of the island.* I suspect, however, that, like 
 most other people, they still preserve some of 
 their old superstitions. Sulleon, for instance, 
 would not allow one of my men to fire at a 
 jay with his gun, as he said the gun would be 
 spoilt, and get gradually worse after killing the 
 jay, until it burst or would no longer shoot 
 straight. He would not give his reason for 
 this notion ; and I could see that upon this and 
 several other points he held notions which he 
 did not like to express. From all I could hear 
 they are a very moral people, being especially 
 strict with regard to their women and marry¬ 
 ing at a very early age. 
 
 September 19th to 24th.—Detained in Cod- 
 
 Wf * 
 
 «y River by contrary winds. Some of the 
 men coming back from the WTeck told us she 
 was the Ononclago of Cork, loaded with timber. 
 The day after the gale she was seen in com¬ 
 munication with a brig, which took out her 
 
 * All the inhabitants of the coast north of Cape Ray, 
 both Indians and Europeans, many by drawing up papers 
 before witnesses, binding upon each party to have the cere¬ 
 mony performed on the first opportunity that presents itself. 
 As there are neither clergy nor magistrates, this is, of course, 
 their only plan, and is tantamount to the Scotch law. 
 
176 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. V. 
 
 provisions and crew and let her go, after which 
 she drifted in-shore. I heard reports of coal 
 having been seen by the Indians up Codw*? 
 River, and tried to get more exact information 
 and persuade one of them to go as a guide. 
 Several professed to know where it was, and 
 offered to accompany me, but when the time 
 came always drew back. One Indian woman, 
 middle-aged, and apparently intelligent, began 
 talking about the “ Indian king.” She said 
 that they had a “ king,” who resided in Nova 
 Scotia, that the whole country rightly belonged 
 to him, and that he must be consulted before 
 any of them dare give me any information. 
 Another said he would go and show me if I 
 would give him a hundred pounds, as I might 
 get thousands or millions. I was told also 
 that an Englishman, named Gale, who lived 
 on the south side of the river, and who had 
 the reputation of being very rich, had strictly 
 charged the Indians to give no information. 
 Those Indians who resided all the year round 
 were sometimes dependent on the English 
 settlers for food, and dare not disobey them 
 and the latter were particularly churlish and 
 uncommunicative, especially old Gale. They 
 
Chap. V.] 
 
 COAL. 
 
 177 
 
 tearecl, it seems, that mines would be establish¬ 
 ed, and that thus the neighbourhood would be 
 regularly settled, and not only their own trade 
 and authority interfered with, but taxes and 
 customs imposed. All along this shore I was 
 looked upon with great suspicion by many of 
 the European residents as a Government agent, 
 and it was believed that my ultimate object 
 was the enforcing; taxes and custom-house 
 duties. After being amused for two or three 
 days by vague promises on the part of the In¬ 
 dians to come and show me where the coal was, 
 
 I was privately assured by Peter, the cripple, 
 that none of them had ever seen the coal them¬ 
 selves, and only knew of it from the report of 
 an Indian, named Morris Lewis, who described 
 it as in a lateral brook of this river, at a dis¬ 
 tance of about thirty miles. I explored the 
 river for about ten miles, and found a lovely 
 valley between some gently rising ground on 
 the one hand,'and the bold and precipitous 
 range of hills running down to Cape Hay on 
 the other. The rocks were the same as those 
 I had seen near Crab’s River, and dipped to¬ 
 wards the interior of the country, in which 
 direction there is, therefore, no doubt of the 
 
 i 3 
 
178 
 
 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. V. 
 
 existence of coal. There were several strips of 
 grass along the banks of the river, which had 
 been cut and made into hay, and on some small 
 islands were a few very good potato-gar¬ 
 dens, belonging to the Indians down at the 
 point. The day before we left I bought a good 
 dog from one of the Indians for ten shillings. 
 Newfoundland is one of the worst places in the 
 world for getting a good, or at least a good- 
 looking, Newfoundland dog. In St. John’s 
 and its neighbourhood they are the most ill- 
 looking set of mongrels that can be conceived. 
 In the more distant ports, however, the breed 
 has been better preserved. 
 
 September 24th.—At length we got a slight 
 b eatli of easterly wind, just sufficient to send 
 us out of the mouth of the river, when a north- 
 north-west breeze came up, which was also the 
 best wind for sending us round the Cape. 
 Cape Ray is a very conspicuous object at a 
 distance, in consequence of the bold flat-top¬ 
 ped ridge of hills that comes down to it, end¬ 
 ing in two or three detached conical eleva 
 
 52 
 
 tions. From the foot of these about a mile of 
 flat ground stretches out to sea, forming the 
 point of the Cape. In a small cove on the 
 
Chap. V.] WRECK OF THE ONONDAGO. 179 
 
 north side of this point, high on the rocks, lay 
 the wreck of the Onondago. She appeared to 
 have been a fine ship of 700 or 800 tons ; her 
 hull seemed not to have sustained much in¬ 
 jury, but her masts were now gone, and she 
 was of course stove in below by the sharp rocks 
 on which she lay. Two small sloops, two or 
 three fishing-boats, and several punts lay along¬ 
 side, and their crews were on shore getting out 
 her cargo, piling the deals and other timber 
 of which it consisted, and loading their own 
 vessels with all imaginable coolness and deli¬ 
 beration. She was evidently considered fair 
 game, and ‘ first come first served ’ seemed the 
 order of the day. The dirty little vessels 
 around her put me in mind of a parcel of 
 wolves preying on the carcase of a race-horse. 
 
 On passing the Cape there was a very strik¬ 
 ing change in the aspect and character of the 
 country, but the change was by no means an 
 improvement. The range of hills before men¬ 
 tioned, whose steep north-western face over¬ 
 looked the rich and apparently fertile country 
 of St. George’s Bay, sloped more gradually to¬ 
 wards the south-east, into a wild, bare, rugged 
 mass of broken rocks inclining gradually to the 
 
IPO EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. V. 
 
 sea, clothed only with moss and small berry- 
 bearing bushes, and furrowed in every direc¬ 
 tion by narrow, and abrupt ravines. This 
 rugged and broken country was evidently con¬ 
 tinued with the same character beneath the 
 sea. The shore is indented with creeks and 
 inlets in every direction, and a fringe of rocks 
 and rocky islets, two or three miles broad, runs 
 along it. Keeping alongshore we got entan¬ 
 gled among sunken rocks before we were 
 aware of it, as the water was quite smooth. 
 A boat just ahead of us, however, left Codwy 
 River a little before us, bound for Port aux 
 Basques; and by keeping a diligent eye upon 
 her motions, and following her winding course, 
 we managed to keep the right passage. Fre¬ 
 quently, on looking over the side, we could see 
 rocks a few r feet below the surface on each side 
 of us, and in some parts the passage between 
 them w r as not twenty feet across. Following 
 the boat, we ran into a narrow channel, between 
 a headland of the main and a string of islands, 
 from which there appeared at first to be no 
 outlet. Suddenly rounding a projecting rock, 
 the boat hitherto our guide let fall her main¬ 
 sail, and, shoving her bowsprit almost against 
 
Chap. V.] NARROW CHANNEL. 1^1 
 
 the door of a small wooden house, her owner 
 stepped ashore with a rope, made fast the boat, 
 and was at home. Before we had recovered 
 onr astonishment at this sudden proceeding, 
 we had passed the only place wide enough to 
 swing at anchor, and saw a narrow opening 
 out of the channel between one of the islands 
 and the main. Here was another house, and a 
 man and two boys, who told us the passage w T as 
 safe, and we slipped through a place where 
 half the crew might have leaped ashore on one 
 side and half on the other. We were then in 
 the small harbour of Port aux Basques, and, 
 by the help of the chart and the sailing direc¬ 
 tions, worked up to a snug berth behind a small 
 island, where we anchored. Just before it got 
 dark we went ashore ; and found the land very 
 rugged and very difficult to traverse, in conse¬ 
 quence of the thick matting of moss and dwarf 
 bushes. There were no houses here, the few 
 inhabitants living at the channel by which w r e 
 had come in. 
 
182 
 
 DEAD ISLANDS. 
 
 [Chap. VI. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Dead Islands—George Harvey—Want of Lighthouses 
 —A Ball—La Poile Bay—Arrival at St. Peter’s—The 
 Cod Fishery — St. Lawrence — Reach Placentia—Visit 
 Trcpassee and Ferryland, and return to St. John’s. 
 
 September 25 th. — A beautiful morning. 
 Examined the rocks in the neighbourhood of 
 the harbour, which were nothing but gneiss 
 and mica slate, the cliffs glittering with crys¬ 
 tals and the bright flakes of mica. In the 
 middle of the day a light wind sprang up from 
 the west; so, against Gaden’s inclination, we 
 sailed. About three p.m. the weather looked 
 suspicious, and a long sea began to roll in 
 from the south. The shore was so rocky and 
 dangerous, that it was necessary to look out 
 for a harbour for the night; and seeing a 
 punt, with a man fishing, near the Dead 
 Islands, we stood in for him, and he piloted us 
 through a cluster of small, low, rocky islets, 
 into a long narrow channel, between a larger 
 
Chap. VI.] 
 
 DEAD ISLANDS. 
 
 183 
 
 island and the main. This was a comfortable 
 and secure harbour, but having shores wild, 
 bare, and rock}', consisting of gneiss and gra¬ 
 nitic veins. Evening rainy and unpleasant; but 
 just before sunset it cleared off, and we took the 
 boat up a small river that came in at the back 
 of the islands. For about half a mile it was 
 several feet deep, with shallow perpendicular 
 banks of bare rock crowned with moss. We 
 then came to a small fall, above which the 
 brook was a mere rapid, winding through a 
 bed full of boulders of all sizes and shapes. 
 It traversed a wild and desolate-looking little 
 valley, with rocky precipices here and there 
 on each side of it, and the whole face of the 
 country was broken into rugged little hillocks 
 and ravines. Occasionally, at the foot of some 
 higher precipice than usual, two or three fir- 
 trees might be seen trying to struggle into ex¬ 
 istence. All the rest was bare rock or lumps of 
 moss and scrubby straggling bushes. The view 
 seaward was equally remarkable : numberless 
 islets ran along the coast, the chief one of which 
 was half a mile long, steep and woody, but 
 the majority were mere bare rocks, frequently 
 
184 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VI. 
 
 in the shape of a low dome, with just one tuft 
 of bushes growing on their tops. 
 
 September 26th.—Fine morning, but the 
 wind blowing from the south-east right against 
 us. There are three or four families scattered 
 uo the seislets, whom we visited. They seem 
 tolerably comfortable, and very simple and 
 open-hearted, but rather afraid of strangers. 
 Near the eastern entrance of the channel, in 
 a house rather better than the others, lived 
 George Harvey, who had been born and bred 
 on this coast. He was about sixty years of 
 age, and had a large family of sons and 
 daughters, mostly grown up. He had been 
 instrumental in the course of his life in saving 
 some hundreds of people from wrecks. A few 
 years ago the brig Despatch, full of emigrants, 
 struck, in a heavy gale, on a rock about 
 three miles from his house. He and one of 
 his daughters, then aged seventeen, and a son 
 of twelve, went off in his punt through a 
 heavy sea, and by great exertions brought off 
 the whole of the crew and passengers, consist¬ 
 ing of 163 people. He established the people 
 about his house, and shared the whole of his 
 
Chap. VI.] 
 
 GEORGE HARVEY. 
 
 185 
 
 provisions with them, until word could be 
 sent to La Poile, and a vessel sent down to 
 carry them away. They stayed with him a 
 fortnight or three weeks, and his stores were 
 so completely exhausted, that himself and his 
 family were compelled to live chiefly on salt 
 fish, with neither bread, flour, butter, nor tea, 
 during; the whole of that winter. 
 
 On information of his conduct reaching St. 
 John’s, the then Governor, Sir T. Cochrane, 
 sent him 100/. and a gold medal, with direc¬ 
 tions to wear the latter on holidays, such as 
 the King’s birthday, &c. This medal, as well 
 as the Governor’s letter, the old gentleman 
 took great pride in showing us. On the 14th 
 September, 1838, he again saved twenty-five 
 men, the crew of the ship Rankin, 650 tons, 
 Alexander Mitchell, master, belonging to the 
 house of Rankin and Gillmore, of Glasgow. 
 She struck on a rock and went to pieces, 
 the crew hanging; on to an iron bar or rail 
 that went round the poop. He fetched them 
 off by six or eight at a time in his punt 
 through a heavy surf, and kept them till they 
 could get on to La Poile. He showed me 
 some documents left him by the master of the 
 
186 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VI. 
 
 vessel, but complained that he had as yet re¬ 
 ceived no recompense either from the master 
 or the house she belonged to. He and some 
 more men, he said, were once employed five 
 days in burying dead bodies cast ashore from 
 a wreck, from which circumstance, I believe, 
 arose the name of “ The Dead Islands,” or, 
 as the French call them, “ lies aux Morts.” 
 In short, the whole coast between La Poile 
 and Cape Ray seems to have been at one time 
 or other strewed with wrecks. Every house 
 is surrounded with old rigging, spars, masts, 
 sails, ships’ bells, rudders, wheels, and other 
 matters. A ship’s galley lay at Port aux 
 Basques. The houses too contain telescopes, 
 compasses, and portions of ship’s furniture. 
 I heard of several chain cables along the 
 coast, which the people had purchased from 
 wrecks, on the chance of raising them; and 
 I believe they drive a regular trade in old 
 rope and other matters, which are bought by 
 the little schooners that run duringr the sum- 
 mer alongshore. Mr. Anthoine afterwards 
 told me, at La Poile, that there was scarcely a 
 season (meaning an autumn) but he had four 
 or five shipwrecked crews thrown on his hands 
 
Chap. VI.] LIGHTHOUSES WANTED. 187 
 
 to maintain and send away, he being an agent 
 of Lloyd’s, as well as the only merchant in the 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 I should be unwilling to obtrude my opinion 
 on matters of which I have no professional, and 
 but little practical, knowledge;—but surely it 
 seems reasonable that a great commercial na¬ 
 tion such as England should not suffer the 
 borders of the great high-road to Canada and 
 her North American possessions to be thus 
 strewed with the property and bodies of her 
 subjects. A lighthouse on Cape Ray, with a 
 large bell or gun to be used in fogs, together 
 with a smaller lighthouse, and a pilot or two, 
 either at Port aux Basques, the Dead Islands, 
 or La Poile, as a harbour of refuge, would be 
 the means of great good. There is no want of 
 good harbours along the coast, but their en¬ 
 trances are generally narrow, and only to be 
 found by those thoroughly acquainted with the 
 channels between the rocks and islands. 
 
 Old Harvey told us that the gale which oc¬ 
 curred while we were in Codwy Harbour was 
 the heaviest he had known for at least twenty 
 years, and that several small vessels had been 
 lost along the coast. In the afternoon he came 
 
188 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VI. 
 
 on board to see me, and have a glass of grog; 
 and then nothing would do but we must all 
 go hack, and have a dance at his house along 
 with his daughters. Accordingly, we left his 
 punt alongside our vessel, and took him with us 
 in our own. One of my men played the flute, 
 and we got up a rude kind of country-dance, 
 w T hile he regaled us with grog and tobacco. He 
 had written a song, which, at his request, one 
 of his daughters sang to an old “ Down, derry- 
 dowm” sort of a tune. It was a description of 
 the wreck of the Despatch, embodying most 
 of the remarkable incidents that occurred while 
 he was fetching off the crew and passengers. 
 The verse, as may be supposed, was rude 
 enough ; but it gave great satisfaction. Then 
 one of my men, Bill, the flute-player, sang a 
 song, likewise of his own composition, and de¬ 
 scriptive of an adventure of his own, in which 
 it appeared that he, with the rest of the crew, 
 had abandoned a water-logged vessel off Ferry- 
 land ; but, after rowing about all night, were 
 very happy to get on board of her again the 
 next morning. This was likewise received 
 with considerable applause. Old George Har¬ 
 vey then told us of his once having seen a 
 
Chap. VI.] 
 
 HORSES AND BEARS. 
 
 189 
 
 horse, in some settlement in Fortune Bay, 
 and described to his family the size and appear¬ 
 ance of this remarkable animal. The people 
 wished, he said, to seduce him into mounting- 
 on its back ; but “ He knew' better than that," 
 although one fellow did ride it up and down 
 several times. Then, turning to me, “ We 
 have some large beasts, Sir, sometimes, in this 
 part of the country. I don’t know whether 
 you ever heard of them ;—we call them bears, 
 Sir.” On which I assured him that 1 had not 
 only heard of, but had actually seen several 
 bears in my lifetime, although not at large in 
 the woods: w'itli all which he seemed especially 
 interested. I fear the reader will, at first, 
 hardly feel disposed to believe that there are 
 British-born subjects, speaking the English 
 language, in the oldest of our colonial posses¬ 
 sions, to whom the horse is a strange animal. 
 Such, however, is the fact. It was now eleven 
 o’clock; and for some time there had been a 
 storm of thunder and lightning, and heavy 
 rain and wind, raging outside. Taking ad¬ 
 vantage of a temporary lull, we set off to re¬ 
 turn to our vessel. The wind, which had pre- 
 viouslv blown from the south, shifted into 
 
190 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VI. 
 
 south-south-west, and began to blow very hard. 
 We accordingly hauled our little vessel close 
 under the lee of the island, and made fast by a 
 line on shore. About two in the morning the 
 wind shifted into the west, blowing a furious 
 gale right down the channel; we were then 
 obliged to haul off from the shore, and let go 
 the other anchor. 
 
 September 27th.—The morning broke dark 
 and stormy, with a fierce gale blowing from 
 the west, driving clouds of spray along the 
 water, and heaving up a tremendous sea on 
 the rocks and islands at the western entrance 
 of the channel. The boats alongside were full 
 of water, from the mere “spoon-drift,” or spray 
 caught by the wind from the surface of the sea. 
 Luckily, no swell could reach us where we 
 were, and our anchors held on well. About 
 twelve the sun broke through the clouds, but 
 pale and distempered ; and it was not till the 
 afternoon that the wind moderated sufficiently 
 to enable a boat to pull against it, even in 
 smooth water. Old Harvey then came oft’ to 
 us, and said that, when he got up in the morn¬ 
 ing, lie ran down to the beach, fully expecting 
 to see us ashore. He was very anxious about 
 
Chap. VI.] 
 
 FISHING DOG. 
 
 191 
 
 two of his sons, whom he was expecting back 
 from St. George’s Bay, where one of them was 
 gone to get married. He fears they may have 
 been caught in the gale of last night. 
 
 September 28th.—The wind has shifted into 
 the south-east again, not permitting us to stir, 
 especially in such a heavy sea as was now roll¬ 
 ing outside. A thin, short-haired, black dog, 
 belonging to George Harvey, came oft’ to us to¬ 
 day. This animal was of a breed very different 
 from what we understand by the term “ New¬ 
 foundland dog,” in England. He had a thin 
 tapering snout, a long thin tail, and rather thin 
 but powerful legs, with a lank body, the hair 
 short and smooth. These are the most abundant 
 dogs of the country, the long-haired curly dogs 
 being comparatively rare. They are by no 
 means handsome, but are generally more intel¬ 
 ligent and useful than the others. This one 
 caught his own fish. He sat on a projecting 
 rock beneath a fish-flake, or stage, where the 
 fish are laid to dry, watching the water, which 
 had a depth of six or eight feet, and the bottom 
 of which was white with fish-bones. On throw¬ 
 ing a piece of cod-fish into the water, three or 
 four heavy clumsy-looking fish, called in New- 
 
192 jEXCURSiONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chai\ VI. 
 
 foundland “ sculpins,” with great heads and 
 mouths, and many spines about them, and ge¬ 
 nerally about a foot long, would swim in to 
 catch it. These he would “set” attentively, 
 and the moment one turned his broadside to 
 him, he darted down like a fish-hawk, and sel¬ 
 dom came up without the fish in his mouth. 
 As he caught them, he carried them regularly 
 to a place a few yards off, where he laid them 
 down; and they told us that in the summer he 
 would sometimes make a pile of fifty or sixty 
 a day, just at that place. He never attempted 
 to eat them, but seemed to be fishing purely 
 for his own amusement. I watched him for 
 about two hours; and when the fish did not 
 come, I observed he once or twice put his right 
 foot in the water, and paddled it about. This 
 foot was white; and Harvey said he did it to 
 “ toll” or entice the fish ; but whether it was 
 for that specific reason, or merely a motion of 
 impatience, I could not exactly decide. The 
 whole proceeding struck me as remarkable, 
 more especially as they said he had never been 
 taught anything of the kind. 
 
 September 29th.—Sailed to-day with a light 
 wind from the west. The land east of the Dead 
 
CllAF. VI ] 
 
 LA POILE DAY. 
 
 193 
 
 Islands preserves the same bleak and rockv 
 character, but gradually rises higher towards 
 the east. About Garia Bay a ridge runs into 
 the country with three high binds on it, the 
 high range of Cape Ray being still visible over 
 the intermediate country. We entered La 
 Poile Bay in the afternoon, and anchored in 
 the first cove on the larboard hand, where there 
 is a small settlement, and a considerable mer¬ 
 cantile establishment belonging to Mr. An- 
 thoine, a native of Jersey. Mr. Anthoine was 
 in England, and his son very busy ; but the 
 latter came on board with Mr. Reid, the 
 custom-house officer, and invited me ashore. 
 There were two brigs and several schooners 
 at anchor. 
 
 September 30th and October 1st.—Very un¬ 
 well with a severe cold and sore throat. Took 
 the boat to the head of the bay, and went 
 nearly round it. It is composed of a coarse¬ 
 grained granite, of porphyry and quartz, and of 
 chlorite and other slates. The head of the bay 
 is rather more wooded and fertile-looking than 
 the surrounding country, but the eastern shores 
 are craggy and broken, and form a mass of the 
 most irregular, rough, bristling hillocks I ever 
 
194 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VI. 
 
 saw, rising from a table-land of some 200 or 
 300 feet in height. I saw here three St. John’s 
 newspapers, being the first news I had had of 
 the rest of the world for these two months. 
 We heard also news from the Cape. In the last 
 gale, that of the 27th, all the vessels lying in 
 Codwy harbour, consisting of a sloop and two 
 French schooners, were driven ashore and 
 wrecked, being beaten entirely to pieces in 
 about two hours. A large brig was lost, with 
 all hands, about half a mile above the spot 
 where we saw the Onondago. She was seen 
 in the morning to have anchored about a mile 
 from shore, and inside a shoal on which the 
 water broke; her crew were clinging to the 
 yards and rigging. As the wind was dead on 
 shore, all assistance w r as, I suppose, out of the 
 question. At last a sea struck her, and she fell 
 on her beam ends, but righted again. Another 
 sea struck her, and she fell over, but not so far. 
 The next heavy sea, however, turned her clean 
 over, and she lay bottom upwards. Then the 
 windlass appears to have been torn from her 
 deck, and she drifted in-shore, righted as she 
 approached the land, and was cast into a sandy 
 cove, where, had the crew run her ashore at 
 
Chap. VI.] ANOTHER SHIP WRECKED. 195 
 
 first, they might have been saved. The next 
 dav six dead bodies were picked up on the 
 beach, and one was found hanging out of the 
 stern windows of the cabin. Such was the 
 account brought to La Poile; but as nobody 
 who could read had yet seen the wreck, her 
 name was unknown. We were peculiarly 
 lucky in being on the right side of the Cape in 
 each of these gales, and each time in a tole¬ 
 rable harbour. No news had been heard of 
 Harvey’s boat, but a boat had been seen coming- 
 out of St. George’s Bay the evening before the 
 gale, which was thought to be the one in cjues- 
 tion; and unless they had taken warning in 
 time, and run back up the bay, it was feared 
 they were lost, and that the bridal party had 
 perished in the week of their wedding. 
 
 The little settlement of La Poile seemed 
 very comfortable, and the people happy, kind- 
 hearted, and hospitable, although I was too 
 unwell to participate in their enjoyments. 
 Mr. Anthoine’s is the chief mercantile esta¬ 
 blishment between Cape La Hune and Cape 
 Kay. Twenty or thirty years ago there were 
 not more than three or four families within 
 that space. Now, however, there are several 
 
 re 2 
 
196 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VI. 
 
 inhabitants in almost every cove, and Mr. 
 Anthoine told me that since he came to La 
 Poile he has been obliged to double his stock 
 almost every year in order to supply the in¬ 
 creasing population. 
 
 October 2nd.—Sailed at daybreak this morn¬ 
 ing in company with a schooner belonging to 
 Mr. Bagg of La Poile. A lovely day, with a 
 cool breeze. There has been a sharp frost 
 every night for the last few nights. The cha¬ 
 racter of the countrv continues much the same, 
 but becomes bolder as we proceed to the west. 
 The hills gradually rise higher, but are still 
 bare, craggy, and precipitous; and the country, 
 for the most part, is the very picture of desola¬ 
 tion. Mr. Bagg, in his schooner, led the way, 
 and when off the B m^rr Islands he suddenly 
 rounded-to, and proposed to run into harbour. 
 The wind had veered to the south, and the sky 
 began to look dirtv. We followed him, there- 
 fore, through a narrow channel, among many 
 small islands and low sunken rocks, and an¬ 
 chored in a small cove called Grandv’s Cove. 
 As w r e meant, if possible, to sail early the next 
 morning, I landed just at sunset, to get some 
 specimens of the rock, when a man came down, 
 
Chap. VI.] 
 
 NATIVE GEOLOGIST. 
 
 197 
 
 and, after looking at me with evident wonder 
 for some time, at last asked me if I wanted 
 ballast. 
 
 October 3rd and 4th.—Detained by contrary 
 winds blowing fresh from the south-east. Called 
 on Mr. Cox, who has a small “ store” here, and 
 had married Mr. Bagg’s daughter. He gave 
 us a good dinner of pork, and several kinds of 
 vegetables, with milk and wine. A regular 
 
 O ' O 
 
 dinner was becoming rather an event in my 
 existence, as I had now for some time lived on 
 dry ham and rather musty biscuit, my potatoes 
 being all gone, and no supplies to be got on 
 this barren coast. Near Mr. Cox’s house was 
 a schooner ashore, half buried in sand: she 
 was laden with coal from Sidney to St. John’s, 
 and was driven on land in the first gale. There 
 is a considerable population, inhabiting forty 
 or fifty houses, which are scattered about the 
 central portion of the Burge? Islands. 
 
 October 5th. — Sailed at four in the morn¬ 
 ing, with the wind from the north. I had in¬ 
 tended to have visited Fortune Bay on my re¬ 
 turn, and also Placentia and St. Mary’s. We 
 had, however, lost so much time, from contrary 
 winds and other accidents, and it was getting 
 
198 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VI. 
 
 so late in the season, that I determined on 
 passing Fortune Bay and going direct to St. 
 Peter’s, and thence to Placentia. The wind 
 blew fresh from the north-north-east, very cold, 
 and knocked up a troubling sea, that upset my 
 cabin-stove, and so deprived me of a fire. We 
 did not anchor in the outer roads of St. Peter 
 till half-past eight. 
 
 October 7th to 10th.—Four most lovely 
 
 ■/ 
 
 days, perfectly clear, warm, and without a 
 breath of wind. We were accordingly de¬ 
 tained in St. Peter’s, momentarily expecting a 
 breeze to enable us to proceed. For this de¬ 
 tention, to tell the truth, I was not greatly 
 sorry. I was most hospitably entertained by 
 Messrs. Atherton and Thorne, who supplied 
 me with hosts of recent American newspapers 
 and several new books. Two or three of the 
 French officials were also verv kind; and M. 
 Renaud, the treasurer, showed me a collec¬ 
 tion of shells from the Great Bank. Among 
 these shells was a terebratula, which seemed 
 to me of a different species from any I had 
 seen. A new commandant had arrived from 
 France, in place of the one I had formerly 
 made acquaintance with. As, however, I was 
 
CHAr. VI.] 
 
 ST. PETER S. 
 
 199 
 
 in momentary expectation of sailing, I was too 
 idle to dress and wait on him. St. Peter’s was 
 now very busy, and the inner harbour crowded 
 with brigs and schooners, the former loading 
 with fish to take to the West Indies, the latter 
 chiefly from the neighbouring shores, purchas¬ 
 ing French wines, spirits, and groceries, which 
 they probably intended to smuggle into the 
 English settlements. Atherton and Thorne’s 
 large store was full all the day. In the outer 
 roads were several large vessels. One was an 
 English ship from Miramichi, called the 
 “ Henry,” bound for Liverpool. She was dis¬ 
 masted in the gale of the night of the 13th, 
 and put into St. Peter’s to refit. Her com¬ 
 mander said he never, before was out in so 
 heavy a gale. Indeed I found in the news¬ 
 papers accounts of wrecks and disasters over 
 the whole of the western Atlantic from Ber¬ 
 muda to Halifax and the Gulf of St Lawrence. 
 Two English ladies were on board the “ Henry,” 
 one of them with two of her children, and they 
 said they could never forget the misery of that 
 night. Many of the inhabitants of St. Peter’s 
 were busy sending off not only their fish, but 
 themselves, on their return to France. Only 
 
2l0 excursions in Newfoundland. [Chap. vi. 
 
 a small proportion of the people engaged in 
 the fishery remain during the winter, the rest 
 return to France; and the French merchants 
 are bound to bring out a certain proportion of 
 fresh hands among their crews every year. A 
 bounty of about five or six shillings per quintal* 
 is paid by the French government on all fish 
 caught by their own fishermen. The French 
 fishery is accordingly conducted on a very 
 different plan from the present English fishery. 
 Large vessels with regular crews are employed, 
 every man is numbered, and a regular system 
 adopted, both in the actual catching of the 
 fish and in the curing; it. These vessels fish 
 mostly on the banks, far out of sight of land, 
 and remain there till they have completed their 
 cargo. Their shore fishery also, on the N.W. 
 coasts of Newfoundland, is conducted on the 
 same regular system, a certain number of boats 
 being under the control of one merchant, and 
 sending in their cargoes regularly to his esta¬ 
 blishment as the fish are caught, to be there 
 cured. These boats are, I believe, manned by 
 *crews who have regular wages paid them. 
 
 * A quintal is 100 pounds weight of dry or cured fish, 
 which fish when fresh would weigh about 300 pounds. 
 
Chap. VI.] 
 
 THE COD-FISHERY. 
 
 201 
 
 The English fishery is, on the contrary, en¬ 
 tirely uncontrolled and unstimulated by boun¬ 
 ties. Every man catches fish for himself or for 
 others, according to his inclination or his 
 capital. He either hires himself out as a ser¬ 
 vant, for regular wages or a share of the 
 produce, or he builds himself a boat and 
 catches what he can, selling the produce to 
 his merchant, or whomsoever will purchase it. 
 The English fishery is accordingly now essen¬ 
 tially a shore-fishery, and carried on by the 
 regular inhabitants from their own doors, as it 
 were. As might easily be supposed from these 
 circumstances, occasional squabbles occur on 
 the shores in the neighbourhood of St. Peter’s, 
 sometimes between the French and English 
 fishermen, and sometimes between their mas¬ 
 ters and the authorities. The French are fre¬ 
 quently in want of bait, more especially of 
 capelin in the capelin season: they are apt, 
 therefore, to run over to the English shore 
 with a fast boat and a few nets, and help them¬ 
 selves to a little of it. This the majority of the 
 English settlers of course disapprove of, as de¬ 
 priving them of their natural advantages: there 
 
 k 3 
 
202 
 
 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VI. 
 
 are not wanting, however, some of them who 
 for the sake of profit will undertake to supply 
 the French with capelin of their own catching, 
 and this leads to dissensions among them¬ 
 selves. Again, many of the French fishermen 
 are willing to buy codfish, either cured or un¬ 
 cured, from the English, in order to get the 
 bounty on it from their own government. This 
 the French authorities naturally oppose, and 
 enforce stringent regulations against the Eng- 
 lisli fishermen. The English custom-house 
 officers moreover look on St. Pierre as a nest 
 of smugglers, or at least as a constant source 
 of temptation for the English settlers to be¬ 
 come smugglers: in which, by the way, they 
 are not far wrong. On this smuggling-trade 
 neither the custom-house officers nor the re¬ 
 spectable merchants look with favourable eyes. 
 For all these reasons the presence of a man-of- 
 war of each nation some time during the 
 fishing season is absolutely necessary, and 
 without the salutary fear of such visits the 
 mutual jealousy would perhaps find vent in 
 actual outbreaks and open quarrels. As it is, 
 however, a tolerably good understanding seems 
 
Chap. VI.] 
 
 GREAT ST. LAWRENCE. 
 
 203 
 
 to be kept up, more especially among- the 
 lower orders of each nation, who probably find 
 their account in it. 
 
 October 11th.—After several shifts and 
 changes, the wind this afternoon settled into a 
 pleasant breeze from the west. We accord¬ 
 ingly set sail, having Mr. R. Thorne, who 
 lived at St. Lawrence, as a passenger. At ten 
 o’clock p.m. we were off Cape Chapeau Rouge, 
 immediately to the east of which are two small 
 inlets called Great and Little St. Lawrence. 
 We accordingly stood in, but it was so dark we 
 could not make out the entrance at first, and 
 at last got into Great St. Lawrence, instead 
 of the other inlet, in which was Mr. Thorne’s 
 residence. 
 
 October 12th to 16th.—We were again 
 detained at St. Lawrence during this time by 
 a succession of contrary winds, during which 
 
 I was hospitably entertained bj' Mr. J. T- 
 
 and his lady, w r ho reside at Little St. Lawrence 
 together with two younger brothers. Their 
 house is very prettily situated on a small pen¬ 
 insula jutting into the inlet, and connected 
 with the main by a pebble beach. This beach 
 is evidently of recent formation, being thrown 
 
204 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VI. 
 
 up by the indraught of the tide during the 
 south-west gales, and the peninsula was once 
 an island. The country around is wild, but 
 picturesque, having the rocky heights of Cape 
 Chapeau Rouge in view on one side, and those 
 of St. Margaret and St. Anne on the other: 
 these are round-topped craggy hills, each rising 
 about 800 feet above the level of the sea. The 
 rest of the country is broken, rocky, and un¬ 
 dulated, varied with the usual proportion of 
 marshes, barrens, and stunted woods, and or¬ 
 namented with a few fine lakes or ponds, of 
 which there is one about a mile long near the 
 north-eastern extremity of the harbour. The 
 lake empties itself by a stream running be¬ 
 tween rocky banks, and terminating by a pic¬ 
 turesque little waterfall. This waterfall has 
 cut back about 150 yards in the course of time 
 through a hard slate rock, forming a ravine 
 with perpendicular walls, up which the tide 
 now flows to the foot of the falls. One day 
 one of the men came across to me from Great 
 St. Lawrence with intelligence that a lead- 
 vein had been discovered. On Goins; over I 
 found quite an excitement, ancb at least twenty 
 people hammering and digging at the rock. 
 
Chap. VI.] 
 
 VEIN OF LEAD. 
 
 205 
 
 The rock itself was a kind of sienite, con¬ 
 sisting principally of red feldspar with inter¬ 
 spersed crystals of quartz. A vein two or 
 three inches wide was in one part filled with 
 small crystals of fluate of lime, and among 
 these were some little cubical crystals of 
 galena, and a coating* of a greenish hue that 
 might be green carbonate of copper. To 
 satisfy the people, I had a good deal of the 
 rock pulled down, and the w'hole affair shortly 
 ended, the vein closing and losing all its 
 crystalline contents. It is just possible that 
 more mineral veins and of better quality might 
 be found in the neighbourhood, but no other 
 indications existed, and none appeared in the 
 cliffs, while the interior of the country was 
 covered with moss and wood. 
 
 October 17th.—Morning fine, calm, and 
 hazy, but towards noon a light breeze sprang 
 up from the west, and we left St. Lawrence 
 for Mortier Bay, where I heard of limestone 
 and marl having- been found. The shore is 
 bold, with rocky cliffs and many indentations. 
 We passed close by Burin, in which, from the 
 number of houses, there seems to be a con¬ 
 siderable population, and anchored in Mortier 
 
206 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VI. 
 
 harbour. Mr. H-, the stipendiary magis¬ 
 
 trate of Burin, had a house here, and came to 
 invite me ashore. The next morning he took 
 me in his whale-boat into Mortier Inlet, a 
 short distance farther up the coast. We passed 
 through a narrow passage between a small 
 inaccessible island, called Crony Island, and 
 the main. It was scarcely wide enough for 
 our oars, but a schooner is said once to have 
 darted through it when chased by an Ame¬ 
 rican privateer,' and not able to fetch the 
 principal entrance of the inlet. There were 
 several families residing in various parts of this 
 inlet, in pretty and picturesque situations, and 
 some spots showed a considerable degree of 
 fertility. The different rocks occurring even 
 in this little space were very numerous, 
 as may be seen by referring to the report. 
 There were one or two thin beds of impure 
 limestone and some red indurated marls, and 
 “ cornstones ” in red sandstones, more like the 
 bottom parts of the coal formation in St. 
 George’s Bay, than anything I had seen on the 
 eastern side of the island. 
 
 October 19th.—Sailed for Placentia, but 
 about noon the wind headed us, and we made 
 
Chai\ VI.] 
 
 AN DIE UN E. 
 
 207 
 
 for the island of A^dierne or Oderon. The 
 western side of Placentia Bay is full of islands, 
 many of which are low, and surrounded by 
 sunken rocks and reefs. We had a group of 
 these on each side of us, as we made Cape 
 Jude; and shortly after, passing through a 
 narrow entrance between two small steep is¬ 
 lands, we ran into a harbour in another small 
 island, and, narrowly escaping a sunken rock 
 about its centre, we anchored in a snug berth 
 in an inner cove. This was Andierne, and we 
 had scarcely anchored before a north-east wind 
 sprang up, that, had we been outside, would 
 probably have sent us back to Mortier or Burin. 
 On the north side of the little harbour of 
 Andierne is a tolerable house and very exten¬ 
 sive warehouses and stores : these are now only 
 half occupied by a young man who was trying 
 
 in some measure to re-establish the very exten- 
 
 •/ 
 
 sive trade that must once have existed there. 
 One or two brigs were at the wharf, and several 
 small houses were scattered about. We were 
 detained here a day by a north-east wind, and 
 
 I was hospitably entertained by Mr. H- 
 
 on shore. 
 
 October 21st.—Sailed with a north-west 
 
208 
 
 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VI. 
 
 wind and a most lovely morning for Placentia. 
 The air was very sharp and the sky clear, and 
 as we sailed along I was amused by watching 
 the rapid changes of form assumed by the 
 various islands on each side of us as they came 
 upon the horizon. I concluded—though, hav¬ 
 ing broken my thermometer, I had no means of 
 testing it—that the sea was of a higher tem¬ 
 perature than the air, and that therefore there 
 was a stratum of air just above the surface of 
 the sea (which was quite smooth) that con¬ 
 tinually varied in temperature, and conse¬ 
 quently in density and the quantity of moisture 
 it contained. Such a state of things would, I 
 should suppose, produce the optical phenomena 
 alluded to. Although perfectly clear round 
 about us, the sea near the horizon seemed to 
 be covered with a dense white fog, smooth and 
 bright as water, in which the distant islands 
 were both reflected and distorted. Two or 
 three headlands were transformed into a row of 
 narroAV pillars, constantly shifting their propor¬ 
 tions, and some of the rocky islands assumed all 
 kinds of queer shapes just before they disap¬ 
 peared. It seemed almost like a narrow stripe 
 of a phantasmagoria. About three p.m. we ran 
 
Chap. VI.] 
 
 GREAT PLACENTIA. 
 
 209 
 
 into the harbour of Great Placentia. This is 
 a small bight, with very bold and lofty head¬ 
 lands on the north side, and a low point on the 
 south side. The highest part of the north 
 side is covered by the ruins of a fort, called the 
 Castle, and several old guns are lying about, 
 one or two having fallen half-way down the 
 precipitous cliffs. From underneath these lofty 
 cliffs at the head of the bay a pebble beach 
 sweeps out, and is separated by a channel, not 
 more than 150 yards across, from another 
 similar pebble beach coming from the op¬ 
 posite side of the bight. On the point of each 
 of these beaches are the ruins of a strong fort. 
 The channel leads into the inner harbour, which 
 divides into two arms: one, called the north¬ 
 east arm, about ten miles long, and nearly 
 straight, and the other the south-east, with a 
 very winding course of about five miles. The 
 south-east arm nearly surrounds a steep rocky 
 piece of ground which was once an island, but 
 is now connected by a long pebble beach with 
 the mainland on the south side of the harbour, 
 blocking up what about sixty years ago was 
 the entrance of the south-east arm. There is 
 another pebble beach stretching from it to the 
 
210 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VI. 
 
 mouth of the channel, on which the town, if it 
 can be called such, is built. It was once a very 
 considerable place, being the French capital 
 when they held possessions on the island, and 
 even under the English was formerly much 
 more important than it is now. It consists of a 
 number of small houses huddled together, and 
 one or two of a better class: it has a Roman 
 Catholic chapel, well attended, and a church, 
 but neither minister nor congregation belong¬ 
 ing to it. Mr. B-, the surgeon and magis¬ 
 
 trate, called on me, and invited me ashore. 
 
 October 22nd.—Mr. B-breakfasted with 
 
 me, and we then set out to walk to Little 
 Placentia, a distance of about five miles. It 
 was a fine morning with a sharp frost, and to 
 my great delight I found a regular road made. 
 Actually a road! with bridges across the 
 brooks, fifteen feet wide, and mostly covered 
 with gravel. It was rough enough, to be sure, 
 and in some places boggy, and if it had not 
 been for the frost, would have been sufficiently 
 muddy; but I saw none of its inconveniences. 
 
 I could again step out with a free stride, could 
 raise my eyes from the ground while I walked, 
 and had the free use of my limbs. I never 
 
Chap. VI- J 
 
 A WALK ON A ROAD. 
 
 211 
 
 appreciated the advantage of a road before : it 
 was really like liberty after imprisonment, and 
 at the best parts of it I felt very much inclined, 
 like the Irishman, to walk backwards and for¬ 
 wards in order to make the most of it. Little 
 Placentia, as well as Great Placentia, stands on 
 what was once an island, being connected to 
 the main by a beach of large pebbles. It is a 
 straggling place on the low side of an inlet, 
 with bold rocky hills on the opposite side. 
 We borrowed a punt and examined some of 
 the rocks, which consist principally of slate, 
 and after being caught in a snow squall, we 
 dined with a gentleman residing in the town 
 as a merchant, and returned to Great Placentia 
 in the evening. The snow had turned to rain, 
 and it was blowing hard from the west. 
 
 October 23rd, 24th, 25th.—Detained by 
 westerly winds with heavy rain and miserable 
 weather. The entrance of the inner harbour 
 being so narrow, and the arms so extensive, it 
 may easily be imagined that the tide, even with 
 a rise of only six feet, causes very rapid cur¬ 
 rents at the ebb and flow. When near low 
 water, indeed, it is almost impossible to stem the 
 current of either the ebb tide or the flood with 
 
212 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VI. 
 
 any strength of wind. ,The ebb tide is of 
 course the strongest, and also the longest, and 
 the ebb from the south-east arm, in conse¬ 
 quence of its many windings, is three-quarters 
 of an hour later than that from the north-east 
 arm : there is consequently a dangerous eddy, 
 and for a short time contrary currents on each 
 bank of the channel. Even with a fair wind, 
 therefore, a vessel is obliged to wait for the 
 tide; and, from the embayed position of the 
 place, one wind is required to take her out 
 of the harbour, and another when she arrives 
 at Cape St. Mary, to take her round to St. 
 John’s. At twelve o’clock on the night of 
 the 25th the wind shifted into the north¬ 
 east, and the tide turning at the same time, we 
 sailed. 
 
 October 26th.—It blew very hard last night; 
 and on looking out on my cabin at daylight 
 this morning, I found a pretty scene of con¬ 
 fusion. The stove and all its pipes had cap¬ 
 sized ; my chair, clothes, and books had got 
 adrift, and together with two or three cups, 
 plates, and other articles, were piled in con¬ 
 fusion on the cabin-floor. We were now, 
 however, round Cape St. Mary, with a light 
 
Chap. VI.] TREPASSEE. 213 
 
 wind at north-north-west. The day turned 
 out fine, and at noon we were close in with 
 the east side of St. Mary’s Bay, passing 
 near St. Shots. This place, a small rocky 
 cove or bay, is the terror of mariners on 
 this coast. The currents are very variable 
 and deceitful, and frequently set with deadly 
 strength right upon this shore, sweeping up 
 the east side of St. Mary’s Bay. Not a season 
 passes but, at some time of the year, there is a 
 succession of wrecks just at this spot. Now, 
 however, it was calm and quiet enough; and 
 we sailed past under the steep cliffs of Cape 
 Freels and Cape Pine, and then ran up into 
 the harbour of Trepassee. This is a pleasant- 
 looking place, the land having a gentle slope 
 on all sides towards the harbour, and being 
 comparatively bare of wood. There is a con¬ 
 siderable number of houses, and among them 
 one or two of a good size and appearance. 
 The best belongs to Mr. S-, who, I re¬ 
 
 gretted to find, was from home. lie is clerk 
 of the court to the southern circuit, and v. as 
 now absent with the judge, who was on cir¬ 
 cuit, and whose vessel we saw pass the mouth 
 of the harbour in the evening. They had left 
 
214 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VI. 
 
 Placentia shortly before we arrived there, had 
 since been to St. Mary’s, and were now gone 
 on to Ferryland. 
 
 October 27th.—Rainy and disagreeable, with 
 variable winds from the southward. As the 
 crew had been on deck all the night before, 
 and it was Sunday, I gave them holiday to¬ 
 day, instead of continuing our route, but had 
 reason most grievously to repent it. 
 
 From October 27th to November 9th.—A 
 weary period of thirteen days, the wind blow¬ 
 ing from the north-east without intermission. 
 The weather was mostly wet, with fogs, and 
 occasional storms of snow r and heavy rain. 
 Even in the fine intervals, I dared not stir far 
 from the harbour, lest a favourable change of 
 wind should occur. I once or twice deter¬ 
 mined to set out on foot, but the people whom 
 I consulted said the brooks between Trepassee 
 and Renows would not be fordable, except 
 after a day or two of fine weather, and this we 
 never had. I had, moreover, no fancy for 
 wading through several brooks, up to my 
 middle in ice-cold water, if it could be reason¬ 
 ably avoided. Mr. S-’s absence deprived 
 
 me of all companionship to relieve the tedium 
 
Chap. VI.] 
 
 DRIVEN ON SHORE. 
 
 215 
 
 of the time, although Mrs. S- exercised 
 
 all the hospitality she could in the absence of 
 her husband. Indeed, without her kind as¬ 
 sistance, in supplying me with books, and al¬ 
 lowing me to join her tea-table in the evening, 
 I know not how I should have survived this 
 period of dreary inaction. Of the rest of the 
 inhabitants, not one came near us. 
 
 On November the ‘2nd the wind had been 
 blowing very hard all night, and in the morn¬ 
 ing increased to such a gale as caused our 
 vessel to drag her anchors, and slowly and de¬ 
 liberately drift ashore. Luckily, she settled 
 on a small beach of pebbles, in the only place 
 where it was possible to avoid having her bot¬ 
 tom knocked in by sharp-pointed rocks. Here, 
 after a few thumps and heaves, she quietly 
 settled down among the pebbles; but as the 
 harbour was two miles long, there was a suf¬ 
 ficient swell in the direction of the wind to 
 dash over her sides, and pour bucketsful of 
 water into the cabin and hold. Even in this 
 uncomfortable position, no one from the ad¬ 
 jacent houses came to our assistance; and 1 
 was told, 1 know not how truly, that there 
 were those on shore who, having made money 
 
216 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VI. 
 
 by wrecking, cared not how soon we went to 
 pieces, provided it gave them an opportunity 
 of making anything by us. Luckily no ulti¬ 
 mate harm was done, and the next day we 
 got the vessel upright, heaved the ballast out 
 of her, and, taking advantage of a high tide 
 on the night of the 5th, floated her off. On 
 the 7th and 8th the harbour gradually got full 
 of vessels, brigs and schooners, waiting for a 
 fair wind for St. John’s. 
 
 November 9th.—At length the wind came 
 up from the south-west, and we all beat out of 
 the harbour and sailed alongshore with a beau¬ 
 tiful day and a fair wind. The land about 
 Cape Race is comparatively low and bare of 
 wood, with a steep cliff of about fifty feet in 
 height, and deep water close in-shore. From 
 Cape Ballard to the northward theland gradu¬ 
 ally becomes higher to Cape Brovtr, a fine bold 
 headland, 400 or 500 feet high. As it got 
 dark the wind became lighter, and oft' Ferry- 
 land it sank to a calm. We accordingly towed 
 into Ferrylaud harbour, and anchored for the 
 night. 
 
 November 10th.—Perfectly calm this morn¬ 
 ing. Ferrylaud is a pleasant place, with a 
 
Chap. VI.] 
 
 FERRYLAND. 
 
 good road along the cliff, and several large and 
 good houses. The road is continued each way 
 from the harbour, and towards Aquafort is 
 sound and in good condition. The scenery 
 around is varied and picturesque, the bold 
 headlands, cliffs, and rocky inlets of the sea- 
 view harmonising well with the dark "woods 
 and hills of the land. At noon, when we were 
 expecting a breeze to enable us to proceed, the 
 everlasting north-easter again sprang up right 
 in our teeth. To avoid a repetition of our Tre- 
 passee adventure, with perhaps a worse result, 
 we got into a sheltered little cove, on the south 
 side of the harbour, called the “ Pool.” 
 
 November 10th to 15th.—Again did the 
 wind, during these five days, blow furiously 
 and pertinaciously from the north-east, bring¬ 
 ing snow and frost, rendering it impossible to 
 stir by sea-, and almost impracticable to move 
 about on shore. I was, however, very kindly 
 and hospitably treated by several resident fami¬ 
 lies ; and though becoming very impatient, 
 and being extremely anxious to receive letters 
 and intelligence, the tedious and wearisome 
 delay was at length terminated. 
 
 On the evening of the 14th, I had just de- 
 
 vol. i. 
 
 L 
 
218 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VI. 
 
 termined to set out to St. John’s on foot, when 
 the wind seemed inclined to change, and on 
 the 15th a breeze sprang up from the south¬ 
 west at twelve o’clock. We accordingly left 
 Ferryland ; and about eight o’clock at night, 
 in pouring rain, we had the satisfaction of en¬ 
 tering the harbour of St. John’s, and I shortly 
 after landed on one of the slippery wooden 
 wharfs, and reached at length my lodgings. 
 
Chap. VII.] 
 
 DR. STl T WITZ. 
 
 219 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Arrival at St. John’s and meeting with Dr. Stuwitz—Christ¬ 
 mas Amusements—Description of a Newfoundland Set¬ 
 tlement—The Fishery—Habits of the Planters—Character 
 of the Natives—Politics—Fogs of Newfoundland. 
 
 On my arrival at St. John’s, I found residing 
 there Dr. Stuwitz, a Norwegian, Professor of 
 Natural History in the University of Chris¬ 
 tiania. He was travelling at the expense of 
 his government, to investigate and collect spe¬ 
 cimens of the natural history of the northern 
 part of America, and had commenced with 
 Newfoundland. He intended during the win¬ 
 ter to visit St. Pierre, Fortune Bay, and the 
 southern coast of Newfoundland, and to return 
 to St. John’s in the spring, time enough to ac¬ 
 company the annual sealing expedition, which 
 leaves that place about the beginning of March. 
 As I also wished to see the ice-fields which are 
 visited by the sealers, in order to examine 
 
 l 2 
 
220 
 
 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VII. 
 
 whether they ever contained boulders of rock 
 or other matters, I agreed to accompany him. 
 In the meanwhile I spent the winter in St. 
 John’s, intending to be ready in May to set out 
 again on my coasting survey, and examine the 
 rest of the shores of Newfoundland in search of 
 mineral wealth and productions. During: the 
 latter part of November and the first two- 
 thirds of December there was dull disagreeable 
 weather, with occasional snow-storms and frost, 
 interrupted by thaws. Stuwitz sailed, on the 
 8th of December, for Fortune Bay, in an open 
 boat, with a little cuddy at each end, in which 
 it was just possible to stow a bed, leaving 
 barely room enough to sit or lie down. 
 
 During the latter part of December, and the 
 whole of January, the weather was beautiful, 
 the air clear, with sharp frost and snow on the 
 ground, but no very intense cold. The har¬ 
 bour was never once frozen over, although 
 the brooks and ponds gradually became fast. 
 This was the season of general holiday. The 
 lower orders ceased work; and, during Christ¬ 
 mas, they amused themselves by what seemed 
 the relics of an old English custom, which, 
 
 I believe, was imported from the West of Eng- 
 
Chap. YII.] 
 
 MUMMERS. 
 
 221 
 
 land, where it still lingers. Men, dressed in 
 all kinds of fantastic disguises, and some in wo¬ 
 men’s clothes, with gaudy colours and painted 
 faces, and generally armed with a bladder full 
 of pebbles tied to a kind of whip, paraded the 
 streets, playing practical jokes on each other 
 and on the passers by, performing rude dances, 
 and soliciting money or grog. They called 
 themselves Fools and Mummers. The mer¬ 
 chants and higher classes shut up their books 
 and neglected their various employments, and 
 amused themselves with sleighing parties to 
 various points where the roads were open; while 
 a general series of dinner parties commenced, 
 varied now and then by an evening party and 
 a dance. There was an amateur theatre, the 
 profits of which were devoted to charitable 
 purposes, and a performance took place once a 
 fortnight, in which their several parts were 
 well sustained both by the actors and the 
 audience. There were, moreover, two public 
 balls, for charitable institutions, that were well 
 got up and numerously attended. In short, 
 there was no lack of amusement, till the pre¬ 
 parations for the sealing voyage began, to¬ 
 wards the middle of February, to draw off the 
 
222 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VII. 
 
 attention both of masters and ilieu to the more 
 serious business of life. 
 
 This winter was remarkably mild ; the ther¬ 
 mometer in the town never, I believe, sank 
 below zero; and once or twice in the month of 
 February the weather became so warm, that 
 the snow melted on the hills, and a regular 
 thaw took place. The temperature of the air 
 on these occasions could hardly have been less 
 than 50° Fahrenheit, though, as I had lent my 
 last thermometer to Professor Stuwitz, I do 
 not recollect the precise point at which I heard 
 that it stood.* 
 
 I cannot, perhaps, find a better opportunity 
 than this of throwing together a few observa¬ 
 tions on some of the more remarkable facts 
 connected with the trade and productions of 
 the country. The first thing that strikes a 
 stranger on entering a harbour in Newfound¬ 
 land is the abundance of what are called the 
 fish-flakes and stages, together with the wooden 
 wharfs and the great dark red storehouses. 
 
 * Daily observations on the height of the barometer and 
 thermometer have been taken by Mr. Templeman, of the Co¬ 
 lonial Office, for seven years, but I regret that I havejnislaid 
 his published statement. The lowest degree of cold experi¬ 
 enced was, I believe, — 18 °. The coldest month is February. 
 
Chai\ VII.] 
 
 FISH-FLAKES. 
 
 223 
 
 The fish-flakes consist of a rude platform, 
 raised on slender crossing poles, ten or twelve 
 feet high, with a matting of sticks and boughs 
 for a floor. On these the fish are laid out to 
 dry, and planks are laid down along them in 
 various directions, to enable the persons who 
 have the care of the fish to traverse them. 
 The surface of the ground being everywhere 
 so rugged and uneven, this device has been re¬ 
 sorted to in order to get a sufficiency of flat 
 space; and in a populous cove or harbour the 
 whole neighbourhood of the houses is sur¬ 
 rounded by these flakes, beneath whose um¬ 
 brageous and odoriferous shade is frequently 
 to be found the only track from one house to 
 the other. The stages are of stronger con¬ 
 struction than the flakes, and are generally in 
 the shape of a small pier jutting out into 
 the water, consisting of a platform of poles 
 laid close together, side by side, and nailed 
 down to a strong framework that is supported 
 by stout posts and shores. At the head of the 
 stage are generally two or three poles, nailed 
 horizontally against the upright posts, forming 
 a rude ladder, up which it is necessary to climb 
 from a boat in order to get on the stage. These 
 
224 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VII. 
 
 are frequently the only landing-places in a 
 harbour. The central part of the stage is roofed 
 over, either with boards or boughs, and here it 
 is that the important operation of splitting and 
 salting the fish usually takes place. Besides 
 the flakes and stages, there is generally a set 
 of rough wooden wharfs, supported on piles, 
 and floored with boards, at the back of which 
 are great wooden buildings, some for the re¬ 
 ception of cured fish, and others for all kinds of 
 merchandise. The outside of these building’s 
 is painted according to the taste and fancy of 
 the owner, but usually of a dark dull red. Now 
 if the reader will picture to himself, in addition 
 to all this, a few brigs and schooners at anchor in 
 the harbour, and a multitude of small fishing- 
 boats, varying in size from a two-oared punt 
 to a half-decked schooner-rigged craft of ten 
 or fifteen tons;—a broken rocky shore, with a 
 stunted wood and little patches of cleared and 
 cultivated garden-ground;— one or two large¬ 
 sized wooden houses, painted white, belong¬ 
 ing to the merchants, and a number of un¬ 
 painted wooden cottages scattered here and 
 there at all possible angles with each other, 
 perched upon rocks and hidden in nooks, be- 
 
Chap. VII.] A NEWFOUNDLAND SETTLEMENT. 225 
 
 longing to the fishermen:—if, I say, he can 
 associate all these things in his fancy, he will 
 have before him a tolerably correct notion of a 
 Newfoundland settlement. Of course, in the 
 larger places, more especially in St. John’s, 
 these elements are overpowered and thrown 
 into the background by others of more im¬ 
 posing character. Large stone houses, good- 
 sized churches, chapels, and court-houses: 
 shops built of wood and painted white, a tole¬ 
 rably regular street, and a road or two, mark 
 the seat of greater wealth, and a more nume¬ 
 rous population. Even in St. John’s, however, 
 fish-flakes are by no means entirely absent, 
 though they are confined to the south side of 
 the harbour, and to a small nook, bearing the 
 euphonious appellation of Maggoty Cove. 
 
 About the beginning of May all the popula¬ 
 tion are on the alert, preparing for the fishery, 
 laying in stores of summer provisions, and 
 hooks, lines, nets, clothes, and the rigging of 
 their boats. Towards the middle or end of May 
 the first shoal of herrings, called by the natives 
 the spring herrings, appear. These are im¬ 
 mediately caught in nets and used as bait for 
 the cod fish. In the middle of June the 
 
 l 3 
 
226 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VII. 
 
 capelin come in and last to the middle of 
 July; and with them commences the height 
 of the fishery. Every man, woman, and 
 child is then fully employed. A married man 
 having a family usually goes out with his 
 sons, takes his bucket full of capelin for 
 bait, and rowing to the fishing-ground, ge¬ 
 nerally a mile or two outside the harbour, an¬ 
 chors and commences fishing. Each person in 
 the boat has two lines about twenty-five fa¬ 
 thoms long, with two or more hooks. These 
 he flings one on each side of the boat, the end 
 of the line being made fast to the thwart. 
 Feeling each occasionally, the moment he 
 strikes a fish, he hauls him in, flings him 
 down in the boat, baits the hook, and throws 
 out his line again. When they get what they 
 call a good spurt of fish, each person will 
 sometimes be fully employed hauling in one 
 line after the other, as fast as he can bait 
 them and throw them out again. When 
 this happens, an hour or two suffices to fill 
 the boat, which then sails away with her 
 cargo to the stage-head. Here the fish are 
 forked out of the boat with a kind of boat¬ 
 hook or pikel, the prong being stuck into the 
 
Chap. VII.] 
 
 THE COD-FISHERV. 
 
 227 
 
 head, and the fish thrown up on to the stage 
 much in the same manner as hay is thrown 
 into a cart. On the stage are usually the fe¬ 
 males of the family, or a man or two assisted 
 bv females, as the case may be. The two most 
 skilful of these are called respectively the header 
 and the splitter. The business of the first is to 
 cut the fish open across the throat and down 
 the belly, and pass it to an assistant, who taking- 
 out the liver drops that into a tub on one side, 
 and tearing off the head and entrails throws 
 them down on the other side. The liver is pre¬ 
 served to make oil, and the head and garbage 
 drop into the water which flows underneath. 
 The fish is then passed to the splitter, who by 
 a dexterous movement cuts out the backbone 
 from the neck nearly to the tail, and thus lays 
 the fish entirely open and capable of being laid 
 flat on its back. This is the most important 
 part of the operation, and a goods plitter always 
 commands superior wages at a merchant’s esta¬ 
 blishment. When split open, the fish are 
 salted, laid in piles to drain, washed and salted 
 again, and finally laid in the sun on clear 
 days to dry and harden. While thus exposed 
 they require much attention, and the women 
 
228 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VII. 
 
 are constantly looking after them, laying them 
 up in round heaps with the skin outwards at 
 night or on the approach of rain, in which state 
 they look very much like small haycocks. 
 Towards the end of July and the beginning of 
 August, the capelin leave the shores, and the 
 young squids or small cuttle-fish succeed them 
 in myriads and supply their place. These are 
 caught and cut up for bait, being a very favourite 
 food of the cod ; and when their season is over 
 these are succeeded by the “ fall herrings,” as 
 they are called, or the autumnal herring-shoals. 
 This is in September, which may be looked on 
 as the close of the fishery. During the whole 
 season the shell-fish, both of fresh and salt¬ 
 water, are an excellent bait for the cod; and 
 sometimes food is in such enormous abun¬ 
 dance, that the fish get gorged and refuse all 
 baits. In such case a jigger is resorted to, an 
 implement I have already described as a plum¬ 
 met of lead armed with hooks, and drawn 
 quickly up and down in the water, attracting 
 the fish by its motion, and striking them as 
 they swim around it. The jigger, however, 
 is looked upon as objectionable, and ought 
 only to be employed in cases of necessity, as it 
 
Chap. VII.] 
 
 THR COD-FISHERV. 
 
 229 
 
 wounds more fish than it catches. I do not 
 know the amount ever caught by a man with a 
 hook and line in a single day, but it must some¬ 
 times be enormous, as it is stated by them as a 
 cause for their devoting their whole time to it 
 that they have the chance every day of catching 
 5/. worth of fish. Now cod-fish at present is 
 not more than 15 j>-. a quintal when dry and 
 ready for exportation, and a quintal of dry fish 
 is made from about three hundred weight of 
 fresh or “ green ” fish, consequently 51. worth 
 of fresh fish would be very nearly a ton weight. 
 To get this quantity a man must catch 224 
 cod of an average weight of 10 lbs. each, or a 
 greater number of less weight in a day; and 
 this, from what I have seen, I think by no 
 means an impossible occurrence, and I have no 
 doubt it sometimes takes place. A family of 
 five or six active individuals in a good summer 
 may thus make fish of the value of from 50/. 
 to 100/. currency. Young and single men 
 either join together, or hire themselves out at 
 regular wages or for a share of the produce, 
 either to their own neighbours or to the mer¬ 
 chants, the wages being generally 20/. for 
 the summer, with rations. Lastly, many fa- 
 
230 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VII. 
 
 milies in some of the outports, instead of 
 “ making” or curing, their own fish, bring it 
 as it is caught to the merchants’ stores and 
 stages, where it is cured by his own men. 
 
 In some parts of the coast, where the water 
 is sufficiently shallow for the purpose, the 
 cod-fish are now caught in seines or other 
 nets. This operation requires more capital 
 to commence with than the mere boat and 
 hooks and lines of the common fishermen. 
 It is therefore chiefly pursued by the mer¬ 
 chant, or by the richer and more considerable 
 of the “ planters,” and a great jealousy exists 
 on the subject in some places. Some people 
 even go so far as to say that all nets should 
 be prohibited, as destroying the chance of 
 the poorer class. Setting aside the diffi¬ 
 culty, however, of such a prohibition, there 
 are some places, as about Greenspond and 
 Cape Freels, where the net is used almost 
 exclusively; and little cod would be caught 
 without it. It is obvious, moreover, that the 
 use of the net is advantageous to the trade 
 at large, as shoals, or, as they are called, 
 “schools” of fish, may sometimes be seen 
 sweeping alongshore that refuse to bite at 
 
Chap. VII.] 
 
 THE COD-FISHERV. 
 
 231 
 
 all; and, but for the net, would escape alto¬ 
 gether. Besides there seems such an incal¬ 
 culable abundance of the fish, that there 
 will always be enough to hook, enough to 
 jigg, enough to net, and more than enough 
 to go away. One calm July evening I was 
 in a boat just outside St. John’s harbour, when 
 the sea was pretty still, and the fish were 
 “breaching,” as it is termed. For several 
 miles around us the calm sea was alive with 
 fish. They were sporting on the surface of 
 the water, flirting their tails occasionally into 
 the air, and as far as could be seen the water 
 was rippled and broken by their movements. 
 Looking down into its clear depths, cod-fish 
 under cod-fish, of all sizes, appeared swimming 
 about as if in sport. Some boats were fishing, 
 but not a bite could they get, the fish being 
 already gorged with food. I speared one 
 great fellow with the spike of the boathook; 
 but there being no tail to it, he got away; and, 
 as far as I could see, that was the only fish 
 touched. Had the ground been shallow 
 enough to use nets, the harbour might have 
 been filled with fish. 
 
 The nature of the connection between the 
 
232 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VII. 
 
 merchants and the settlers, fishermen, or “plant¬ 
 ers,” as they are called, is peculiar, and is 
 now somewhat complicated. When the fishery 
 was first embarked in by the English, it was 
 conducted much as the French fishery is now. 
 Vessels of a large size came out every year for 
 the summer, and were compelled to bring the 
 whole of their crews home in the winter, and 
 take out a certain proportion of fresh hands 
 every year. At that time the Bank fishery 
 was the most important branch ; and the 
 fishery alongshore little attended to. Gradu- 
 ally the country became thinly settled along 
 the coast, and at length was recognised as a 
 colony, and a governor appointed. Still the 
 connection between the fishermen and the 
 merchants continued much as before. The 
 merchants were men of large capital, and each 
 had his regular planters, who w r ere either his 
 hired and bound servants, or had been such, 
 and were entirely dependent on him for sup¬ 
 plies. The large mercantile establishments, 
 then in comparatively few hands, were scat¬ 
 tered along the coast; each establishment had 
 a regular crew “ shipped,” and bound down 
 by articles of agreement; and the neighbour- 
 
Chap. VII.] 
 
 THE COD-FISHEHV. 
 
 233 
 
 ing planters, whether bound or not, had no 
 other market than the next merchant’s store, 
 either to take their fish to, or procure pro¬ 
 visions and goods from. Every man in the 
 neighbourhood was down in the merchant’s 
 books for almost everything he had; little 
 hard cash passed, but each account was ba¬ 
 lanced by the fish or labour of every man 
 during the season. As, however, the merchant 
 fixed the price of the fish he bought, and also 
 of the goods he sold, there was considerable 
 probability of the ultimate result being in his 
 favour. From the great facility, moreover, of 
 procuring credit with his merchant for any¬ 
 thing he needed or wished for, the careless 
 fisherman frequently ran in debt to a greater 
 amount than his summer’s work would pay 
 off. In winter he must either get provisions 
 on credit or starve, and his debt must be 
 increased before he could commence his sum¬ 
 mer’s work to clear it off. The idle and dis¬ 
 honest ran away, or refused to pay: this was 
 a loss to the merchant, who, to cover the 
 losses from bad debts, put a higher price on 
 his goods; and thus the good were obliged 
 
234 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VII. 
 
 to pay for the bad. With such a system, even 
 with honest intentions on both sides, the na¬ 
 tural consequence must be, that each merchant 
 or agent held his neighbourhood in a species 
 of vassalage, and had more power over his 
 dependants than it is safe to trust to the will 
 or caprice of any man. The settlers, on the 
 other hand, became careless and improvident: 
 they lost the feeling of independence, and that 
 never-failing spur to exertion, the hope of 
 acquiring it. This system, too, involved great 
 temptations to dishonesty on both sides; and 
 if the open evasion of a debt on the one side 
 was the most flagrant, I am not sure whether the 
 silent overcharge on the other was not the most 
 fraudulent and pernicious. The close of the 
 war, and consequent fall of the price of fish, led 
 to the breaking up of some of the large mercan¬ 
 tile establishments; others failed from various 
 circumstances; the increasing and more stable 
 population drew people with smaller capital 
 to set up stores in a smaller way, and opened 
 the door to competition; and the larger houses 
 concentrated their business in St. John’s, or a 
 few of the principal places, and supplied the 
 
Chap. VI1.] 
 
 THE COD-FISHERY. 
 
 235 
 
 merchants in the out-ports, or any persons 
 who would pay for their goods, either in cash, 
 fish, or oil. Lastly, the number of small ped^- 
 dling schooners trading along the coast, fre¬ 
 quently stepping in between the merchant and 
 his planter, and buying the fish from under 
 his nose, as it w r ere, acting in concert with the 
 other causes, gradually broke up the old 
 system, while political and religious differ¬ 
 ences completed the alienation between the 
 fishermen and the merchant. Most of these 
 circumstances were in themselves evils, and 
 all have been bitterly complained of; but as, 
 on many occasions, great and general good 
 arises out of many and partial evils, these 
 changes also will, I believe, ultimately be pro¬ 
 ductive of good, and establish the trade of the 
 country on a far more stable and healthier 
 system than before. In the neighbourhood of 
 St. John’s, and the whole of Avalon, the old sys¬ 
 tem may be said to have almost entirely passed 
 away. The fisherman, if honest and indus¬ 
 trious, may carry his fish to any one he 
 chooses; and though he cannot fix the price 
 at which it shall be sold, as the merchants 
 
236 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VII. 
 
 fix that by common consent from the state 
 of the foreign markets, he has still the great 
 benefit of competition in the choice of the 
 provisions and goods he is to buy. When 
 once he has acquired a boat, a house, fishing- 
 lines, and provisions for the season, he has 
 the power of being independent, and need 
 not owe a farthing. One or two years’ in¬ 
 dustry, backed by a little good luck, will 
 give him these; and five years’ work, at most, 
 ought to place him on the road to honest 
 independence. Annihilate, as far as possible, 
 the system of credit, and educate the rising 
 generation (which is now being done), and the 
 people of Newfoundland may be as happy 
 and prosperous a race as any under the sun. 
 The value of the dry cod-fish alone exported 
 every year from Newfoundland is, on an ave¬ 
 rage, about 400,000/., while the total value 
 of the exported productions in fish, oil, and 
 skins is upwards of 700,000/. This, from a 
 population of 70,000 or 80,000, proves the 
 extent and value of their resources, especially 
 when we take into consideration the quantity 
 of fish consumed in the country. 
 
Chap. VII.] 
 
 LIFE OF A PLANTER. 
 
 23 7 
 
 To resume, however, with the usual course 
 of labour of a planter and his family. In 
 some places, they remove at the close of the 
 fishing- season, with their families and furni¬ 
 ture, from their summer residences, into more 
 sheltered and woody districts, where fire-wood 
 is more abundant, and the materials for mak¬ 
 ing oars, punts, staves, hoops, See. may be had 
 for the labour of cutting them. Others employ 
 themselves in hunting, in shooting wild-fowl, 
 ptarmigan, which they call partridges, or deer, 
 or in trapping martens, foxes, otters, and other 
 animals, for their fur. The latter employ¬ 
 ment, however, except in very remote settle¬ 
 ments, is seldom resorted to; and its place 
 is supplied in Avalon and the north coast by 
 the sealing expeditions. In some favoured 
 spots, namely, at the mouths of the principal 
 brooks, salmon-fishing is followed during the 
 summer, by one, two, or more families; and 
 in all places, besides the cod-fish, the dog-fish 
 is caught for the oil extracted from its liver; 
 and the herring and capelin are sometimes 
 cured, as well as used for bait. There is a 
 whaling establishment in Fortune Bay; and 
 
238 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VII. 
 
 I have often wondered, from the abundance 
 of whales and grampus on the northern shore, 
 and more especially in Trinity and Bonavista 
 Bays, that no whaling speculation has been 
 there set on foot. 
 
 For the statistical details of Newfoundland, 
 I must refer to Mr. Montgomery Martin’s 
 work on the statistics of the colonies, and 
 to a little volume in the Edinburgh Cabinet 
 Library, in which a very fair account is 
 given of Newfoundland; not entirely accu¬ 
 rate in minor points, but, upon the whole, 
 good. 
 
 It is an ungrateful task to turn critic on 
 the characters of a people among whom one 
 has lived, and of whose hospitality one has 
 partaken. I can, however, assert that the 
 Newfoundlanders are simple, honest, indus¬ 
 trious, goodnatured and hospitable people, 
 and have the virtues of all hardy races ex¬ 
 posed to the toils and dangers of an adven¬ 
 turous life. Some of them are, no doubt, 
 fond of rum; but though, during Christmas, 
 or in holiday times, they may occasionally be 
 “ fou for weeks thegither,” the mass of the 
 
Chap. VII.] CHARACTER OF THE NATIVES. 239 
 
 people are not habitual drunkards. Many 
 are tee-totallers of old standing. The Roman 
 Catholic part of the population, more espe¬ 
 cial^, have an old custom called “ cagging,” 
 taking a vow, that is, before the priest, not to 
 touch rum or spirits for a year or two, or for 
 their whole lives, or while they are on shore, 
 kc., and these vows are scrupulously adhered 
 to. Of late years, excited by elections, and 
 the instigations of a few turbulent spirits and 
 bv the old party feelings and enmities imported 
 from Ireland, there have been one or two 
 outbreaks at St. John’s and Carbonear; and 
 some acts of private or public vengeance have 
 been perpetrated, to the extent of maiming the 
 person. Scenes quite as bad have taken place 
 at elections at home, more especially, I be¬ 
 lieve, in Ireland; but they naturally produce 
 more excitement in a scattered and usually 
 tranquil population. 
 
 One point in the character of most of 
 the inhabitants of Newfoundland seems to be 
 common to the whole of North America, 
 namely, the eager inquiry after news, and 
 the propensity to exaggeration and invention, 
 to use the most polite terms. It is really 
 
240 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VII. 
 
 astonishing how news of the most trifling 
 matters, especially if dashed with a little scan¬ 
 dal, flies about, not only in St. John’s, but 
 along the coast to the most distant settlements. 
 Reports of the most ludicrous nature,—ludi¬ 
 crous for exaggeration, even if they have any 
 foundation in fact,—gain instant credence. It 
 seems to be a stain on a man’s character if on 
 coming into a harbour he has not a budget of 
 news; so that if he knows none, he imme¬ 
 diately draws on his imagination. The seal 
 hunters, and the furriers in the country, make 
 a point of giving false information as to the 
 results of their expeditions; and they were, 
 once or twice, quite angry with me for telling 
 the truth on these points. “ Sure, sir, what’s 
 the use of letting them know what we’ve got?” 
 “ But what’s the use of telling a lie about it?” 
 “ Faix! and it’s no lie; what call have they 
 to be asking about it?” The consequence of 
 this indifference to truth is a bad one. Mali¬ 
 cious sayings, and tale-bearings, reports of 
 private conversations, and remarks with ill- 
 natured emphasis or additions, and all the 
 petty malice of scandal, are rife in all the 
 settlements I visited; often introducing the 
 
Chap. VII.] CHARACTER OF THE NATIVES. 241 
 
 most bitter private dissensions into commu¬ 
 nities that might otherwise be happy and 
 united. The first society in St. John’s is imi¬ 
 tated in this matter by the humble fishermen 
 in the most retired out-harbour, in a manner 
 that to the unprejudiced observer seems the 
 most severe satire upon them. 
 
 The point most deficient, however, in the 
 character of most of the lower classes of the 
 inhabitants is a want of manly independence 
 and self-reliance. They are easily led, and 
 always look for guidance; being ready to 
 follow any one who will take the trouble of 
 thinking and deciding for them. This feeling 
 has resulted, in the English part of the popu¬ 
 lation, from their habit of depending upon 
 and looking up to their merchant for every¬ 
 thing ; and the same effect has been produced 
 amongst the Irish from the implicit reliance 
 the}* place upon their priest. It is evident that, 
 where this feeling of dependence exists, there 
 can only be a negative character, for with¬ 
 out some degree of self-reliance and self-deci- 
 sion, a man mav do little wrong, but neither 
 is he likely to do any positive good. I be- 
 
 M 
 
 VOL. i. 
 
242 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VII. 
 
 lieve, however, that these pernicious influences 
 are on the decline; and that mercantile com¬ 
 petition and early education will gradually 
 elevate the character of the people of New¬ 
 foundland. 
 
 1 have already alluded to their propensity 
 to take advantage of the calamities of their 
 neighbours, during fires and shipwrecks. They 
 universally reason in this way: “If I don’t 
 save these goods, they will be lost: now I 
 may as well have them as the sea or the fire! ” 
 My own men I found constantly talking in 
 this way when speaking of a wreck; and cer¬ 
 tainly, when a vessel, entirely abandoned, is 
 driven ashore, and neither her name nor 
 owners are known, the reasoning seems fair 
 enough. It is probably in this way that a lax 
 feeling has originated; and, when once pre¬ 
 valent, it is not unlikely to lead to various in¬ 
 fractions of the rights of property. But this 
 feeling is already on the decline in the more 
 populous parts of the island; and the noble 
 examples which the merchants and inhabit¬ 
 ants of St. John’s have afforded to the people 
 at large cannot but have their effect. While 
 
Chap. VII.] 
 
 POLITICS. 
 
 243 
 
 I was in the country, there were several in¬ 
 stances of shipwrecked crews, and large bodies 
 of emigrant passengers, not merely clothed, 
 fed, and taken care of, but refitted, their losses 
 partly compensated, and themselves forwarded 
 free of expense to ports near their places of 
 destination. In proportion to its size and 
 wealth there are few places in any part of the 
 world where larger and more frequent sub¬ 
 scriptions for charitable purposes are from 
 time to time raised than in St. John’s. 
 
 Of the political state of the country I shall 
 forbear to ‘speak at any length. There is 
 now, unhappily, very considerable bitterness of 
 party spirit; but what the cause may be no 
 one seems able to tell. There are no political 
 principles involved in the disputes: indeed, I 
 cannot call to mind having ever once heard a 
 political principle stated, either publicly or 
 privately, while I was in the country. The 
 old nicknames of Tory and Whig are bandied 
 about, and there are dissensions between the 
 Roman Catholics and the Protestants; but the 
 sole feelings involved are, it would appear, 
 certain conventional prejudices, and the strug- 
 
 m 2 
 
244 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VII. 
 
 gle for personal or party power, influence, and 
 emolument. The whole population is British, 
 both actually and in thought and feeling: they 
 are all loyal subjects of the English Crown ; and 
 the idea of separation from the mother country 
 has never entered into the head of any, even 
 the most violent among them. On the whole, 
 
 I believe that if the points of difference could 
 once be fairly understood and expressed, and 
 if the two parties could agree among them¬ 
 selves as to the distribution of the public 
 offices, their quarrels would die away simply 
 for want of anything further to dispute about. 
 Their political arrangements, therefore, can 
 hardly be of sufficient general interest to call 
 for further notice in this place. 
 
 It would he hardly fair, perhaps, to class 
 fogs among the productions of this country; 
 but political obscurities lead naturally in this 
 place to speak of the fogs for which Newfound¬ 
 land is so well known. These fogs are cer¬ 
 tainly most remarkable. They prevail gene¬ 
 rally during the summer months, June, July, 
 and August. They do not originate on shore, 
 but at sea, and more especially in that part of 
 
Chap. VII.] 
 
 FOGS. 
 
 l45 
 
 it which washes over the Great Bank of New¬ 
 foundland. The Gulf-stream, sweeping along 
 the eastern coast of North America, strikes off, 
 about the latitude of New York, towards the 
 north-east, and reaches the southern edge of 
 the Great Bank; but the boundaries of the 
 stream are indefinite, and it advances farther 
 towards the north at one time than at another. 
 From Baffin’s Bay to Davis’s Straits a great 
 current runs towards the south, sweeping along 
 the coast of Labradore. This current per¬ 
 plexes and renders dangerous the navigation 
 of the Straits of Belle Isle, whence another 
 current flows out of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
 and after washing the north-eastern coast of 
 Newfoundland, traverses the northern edge of 
 the Great Bank, varying in power and extent 
 according to circumstances. The tract of sea 
 between these two currents and near their 
 junction must, of course, be subjected to con¬ 
 siderable eddies, changing in power, extent, 
 and direction, according to variations in the 
 two currents. Such eddies render the sea 
 south of Newfoundland and between that coun¬ 
 try and Nova Scotia dangerous to the navi- 
 
246 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VII. 
 
 gator, as he is uncertain in what direction, 
 and at what rate, he may at any time be 
 drifted by them. It is doubtless to the meet¬ 
 ing of these two currents, one charged with 
 ice, and the other warm from the tropics, on 
 the Great Bank,* and the shoals about it, 
 that the fogs are chiefly due. On the southern 
 shore of Newfoundland a dense white fog pre¬ 
 vails throughout the summer, whenever the 
 wind does not blow from the north or west. 
 This fog is low, and does not reach far into the 
 country, as frequently on ascending a hill two 
 or three hundred feet high the sun is found 
 shining brightly overhead. Even on the low 
 ground small breaks or open patches some¬ 
 times disclose the bright sun for a few minutes, 
 but it is soon again shrouded by the dense 
 white vapour. These fogs are not unhealthy, 
 nor very unpleasant to the senses, and they 
 rarely extend so far as the Gulf of St. Law¬ 
 rence, St. George’s Bay, or the western shore 
 of Newfoundland. All along the southern 
 
 * The Great Bank has a depth varying from sixty to 
 fifteen fathoms. Forty fathoms may with great probability 
 be given as its mean depth. 
 
Chap. VII.] 
 
 FOGS AND MIST. 
 
 247 
 
 shore they are very prevalent, more especial ly 
 in Placentia Ba} r , and the neighbourhood of 
 St. Pierre; but around St. John’s, on the 
 eastern side of the island, they may frequently 
 be seen out at sea, while the land is basking in 
 sunshine. Sometimes a strip of sea, about a 
 mile broad, forms a belt around the shore, 
 within which the fog does not penetrate, so 
 that vessels suddenly emerging from the fog 
 have found themselves in a clear atmosphere 
 witliin a mile of the shore. The appearance 
 of a vessel coming thus through a wall of fog 
 is described as most singular, her jib and 
 then her foresails being seen to emerge before 
 her mainmast comes into sight. I have often, 
 too, been struck with the appearance of the 
 narrows when a light easterly wind has been 
 blowing. Overhead, in the harbour, and on 
 the landward slope of the south-side hills the 
 sun has been shining brilliantly, while in the 
 gorge of the narrows the fog might be seen 
 boiling and rolling in huge white fleecy folds, 
 creeping along the water, or curling in wreaths 
 of mist up the sides of the hills, and gradually 
 dissipating as it advanced. Sometimes the 
 
248 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VII. 
 
 crest of the ridge of the south-side hill was 
 crowned by a long low line of fog that kept 
 rolling over it and pouring down upon its 
 sunny sides without advancing an inch, the 
 whole of the vapour being dissolved as soon as 
 it came upon the warm air above the heated 
 rocks. If, however, the wind blew harder 
 from the east, or more especially the south¬ 
 east, the fog was driven in more rapidly: it 
 gradually advanced and prevailed, spreading 
 over the harbour, and enveloping the whole 
 country in its dense mantle. At night, when 
 the ground is cold, the fog settles upon the 
 land; and remains as long as the wind blows 
 from the east or south-east. The moment, 
 however, the wind shifts into the west, or 
 north, the fog is driven out to sea again, 
 and retires to its stronghold and permanent 
 domain, the Great Bank. With northerly 
 or westerly, or at St. John’s with south¬ 
 westerly winds, the atmosphere is always 
 clear; but during the summer months, a shift 
 to the south or east will bring fog in greater 
 or less time, according to the strength of the 
 wind. In Bonavista Bay, and along the 
 
Chap. VII.] 
 
 FOGS. 
 
 249 
 
 northern shore of Newfoundland, there is com¬ 
 paratively little fog, the only wind that brings 
 it being a north-easterly, or a very strong 
 easterly wind. I have no doubt the interior 
 of the country of Newfoundland would always 
 be found free from fogs, except in long-con¬ 
 tinued southerly and easterly winds. 
 
250 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND, [Chap. VIII. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Return of Dr. Stuwitz, and departure with him to the Ice— 
 Appearance of the Ice, and difficulty of getting through 
 it—Capture of the first Seal—Grand slaughter amongst 
 the Seals—Icebergs—Aurora Borealis—Capture of a 
 Shark — Description of the different species of Seal 
 found near Newfoundland—Effects of a Swell upon the 
 Ice—Return and arrival at St. John’s. 
 
 Towards the end of the month of February, 
 1840 , I began anxiously to expect the return 
 of Professor Stuwitz, of whom I had heard no 
 intelligence during; the winter. In seasons of 
 ordinary severity his return by sea to St 
 John’s would have been impossible; and he 
 intended to have made for the nearest port 
 that was free from ice, and have come on 
 overland. The mildness of the weather, 
 hitherto, had' prevented any great accumu¬ 
 lation of ice along the coast, although the 
 harbour was frequently skinned over, and its 
 
Chap. VIII.] RETURN OF DR. STUW1TZ. 251 
 
 mouth alternately opened and blocked up by 
 ice and frozen snow on each influx and reflux 
 of the tide. Two or three severe days would 
 have been sufficient to close it entirely, or 
 a field of ice from the northward might drift 
 down and beset the whole coast. However, 
 on the 25th, I had the satisfaction of seeing 
 his boat making her way into the harbour, 
 and he soon landed on the wharf. He had 
 suffered greatly, having frequently been out 
 at sea all night in his open boat in the severest 
 weather: he had, however, made many good 
 observations, and collected specimens of the 
 land and sea fauna both of St. Peter’s and 
 Fortune Bay. There was now but little time 
 left to make arrangements for our voyage to 
 the ice. The generality of the vessels “ going 
 to the ice” are schooners and brigs from 80 to 
 150 tons, manned by a stout crew of rough 
 fishermen, with a skipper at their head of their 
 own stamp. These ships are inconceivably 
 filthy, being often saturated with oil; and crew 
 and skipper all live and lie together in a narrow 
 dark cabin of the smallest possible dimensions, 
 and the fewest possible conveniences, every¬ 
 thing being in common. In such a vessel as 
 
252 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 this it was evidently impossible for us to be 
 accommodated, nor would either crew or skip¬ 
 per have consented to take us. There are, 
 however, one or two masters of ships of a su¬ 
 perior description who reserve the after-cabin 
 to themselves, and keep the crew in the fore¬ 
 castle. Among these, one of the most respect¬ 
 able was Mr. Furneaux, who having been at 
 one time unsuccessful as a merchant, had re¬ 
 trieved his fortune by successful sealing enter¬ 
 prises ; and he had just built a new vessel 
 called the “ Topaz,” a brigantine of 120 tons, 
 in which he was going out for the first time. 
 She had a comfortable little after-cabin, with 
 small state-rooms, containing altogether five 
 berths. This cabin he agreed to share with us ; 
 Professor Stuwitz and his baggage were to oc¬ 
 cupy one state-room, myself and servant ano¬ 
 ther, while the larger and after state-room was 
 reserved for Captain Furneaux and his more 
 important stores of powder, spirits, &c. I had 
 discharged Kelly, and engaged a young fellow 
 named Simon Grant, a clean, active, good-tem¬ 
 pered lad, who was to act as cabin-steward and 
 cook. Our expedition was looked upon in St. 
 John’s as rather a Quixotic undertaking, no 
 
Chap. VIII.J STARTING « FOR THE ICE.” 
 
 253 
 
 one, except the men actually engaged, having 
 vet had the curiosity “ to go to the ice; ” and 
 these men either could not give clear descrip¬ 
 tions, or purposely made rather a mystery of 
 the matter. At length, on 
 
 Tuesday, March 3rd,—We had got every¬ 
 thing on board, and were all ready for a start. 
 The wind was in the morning unfavourable, 
 but began to get variable towards the middle 
 of the day, and we were* anxiously looking for 
 a change. Being heartily tired of waiting, 
 however, and Captain Furneaux saying he 
 should not start for an hour or two, at least, 
 
 1 strolled with the gentleman at whose wharf 
 the vessel lav into the billiard-room. We had 
 finished three rubbers, when, happening to look 
 out of the back window, we saw over the roofs 
 of the houses the topsails of a vessel loose, with 
 the house-flag of my companion at the mast¬ 
 head : throwing down our cues, we rushed 
 into the street, and the fh’st person we met 
 informed us that messengers were searching 
 for us all over the town. I found on the 
 wharf-head a host of friends assembled to take 
 leave, the vessel with her sails loose and only 
 moored by a single rope, and a punt alongside 
 
254 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 waiting for me. I jumped into the punt, 
 sculled off, clambered up the side of the 
 vessel as they cast off the rope, and before 
 I could get my foot on the deck we were 
 under sail. Three cheers greeted us from 
 the wharf as our sails filled, and the crew 
 were called aft to return it: one cheer more 
 from the wharf-head, and we were off. The 
 harbour was covered with thin ice, and frozen 
 snow, that yielded before the pressure of the 
 vessel; and, as we slowly advanced, cheers 
 resounded from several others of the wharfs as 
 their respective vessels cast oft' their moorings 
 and set sail. We passed two smaller vessels 
 which were stuck fast in a pan of ice, and 
 endeavouring to make their way out; ano¬ 
 ther brig joined us as we entered the narrows, 
 in company with which we sailed from the 
 harbour and lay alongshore to the northward. 
 In consequence of my billiard playing I had 
 lost my dinner, but we had hardly gone a mile 
 before the keen air recalled this fact to my 
 recollection, and I dived into the cabin to 
 examine the interior of a meat pie. This was 
 about four p.m., and yet at half-past seven I was 
 at supper with the rest, with a hearty appetite, 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 ARRIVAL AT THE ICE. 
 
 255 
 
 on hot beef-steaks. Our vessel, the Topaz, 
 seemed to sail very well on a wind, as we drew 
 a-head of all the vessels we came near. The 
 swell was very trifling, and there were scarcely 
 any waves. The surface of the water was in a 
 half-congealed state, and had a thick greasy 
 appearance, as if it were of the consistence of 
 pea-soup: this was owing either to a quantity 
 of snow resting on the water, or to the first 
 formation of small spiculse of ice, and it gave 
 a very peculiar appearance to the long lazy 
 swell of the sea. At sunset we were off' Cape 
 St. Francis, with a long line of white on the 
 north-eastern horizon, showing the edge of the 
 ice to be in that direction. During the night, 
 while fast asleep in my berth, I was awakened 
 by a loud rushing and roaring noise, with con¬ 
 tinued vibration and heavy jars now and then, 
 which 1 found to proceed from the ship having 
 entered the ice, the thin sheets of which were 
 scraping and rubbing against her sides, while 
 here and there a heavy lump shook her as she 
 struck it. At last we stuck fast, and the crew 
 were then called to free her, and she was put 
 about, sailed back to the southward, and kept 
 more in-shore in a broad channel between the 
 ice and the land. 
 
256 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 March 4th.—At daylight this morning we 
 were just at the entrance of Trinity Bay, and 
 should have been much farther but for the de¬ 
 tention of last night A broad belt of clear 
 water stretched across Trinity Bay, from Bac- 
 calieu Island to Cape Bonavista, while ice 
 occupied the interior of the Bay on the one 
 hand, and stretched off far away to the north¬ 
 ward on the other. Many vessels were in 
 sight, some in the clear water, others in the ice. 
 Near two of the latter, which were in the ice 
 five or six miles to the north of us, we could just 
 discern some little black dots slowly moving 
 about: these were part of the crew breaking 
 the ice, and trying to cut their vessels out. 
 Much of the ice near us was in the state the 
 men call “lolly,” by which they mean soft, 
 half-frozen snow, floating on the surface of the 
 water, not more than five or six inches in 
 thickness, and yielding readily to pressure. 
 On reaching Cape Bonavista we found the 
 channel along which we had hitherto ad¬ 
 vanced blocked up, and the ice close to the 
 shore, with only a few open pools here and 
 there, and small channels leading to nothing. 
 Several vessels were tacking to and fro along 
 the edge of the ice, waiting for a favourable 
 
Chap. VIII.] APPEARANCE OF THE ICE. 257 
 
 opportunity of making their way through it. 
 Taking advantage, however, of a part where 
 the ice was loose and broken, we pushed 
 through, doubled the Cape, and then followed 
 a small channel, in the direction of two or 
 three vessels ahead. In a mile or two this 
 likewise closed, and for the rest of the evening 
 we continued sailing about in such pools of 
 smooth water as were left in the intervals 
 of the ice. The aspect of this ice was very dif¬ 
 ferent from that of fresh-water ice, being much 
 softer, cpiite white, and opaque, and looking 
 rather like frozen snow than ice. It was 
 generally about a foot thick, but was cracked 
 in every possible direction, and broken into 
 large cakes or pans, of all shapes and sizes, 
 that were sometimes jammed and crushed 
 together, and sometimes slowly moved on and 
 made to revolve by the grinding of their edges 
 together. Frequently one piece was tilted up 
 and rested partly on another, and here and 
 there small pieces were lying loose on the sur¬ 
 face of others. The sides and edges of the 
 pans seemed frequently water-worn into holes 
 and hollows, and sharp spurs sometimes pro¬ 
 jected under water. Some of these masses of 
 
258 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 ice of a smaller size had been washed and worn 
 on all sides by the waves into the most irre¬ 
 gular and fantastic shapes, now resembling the 
 turrets and battlements of an ancient castle, 
 and presently shifting and looking like the 
 picturesque cliffs of a rocky shore. It was a 
 lovely evening, mild, and pleasant on deck, 
 the thermometer not having been below 40° 
 Fahr. during the day. South of us lay the 
 headland of Cape Bonavista, from which the 
 varied shores of the Bay stretched away to the 
 north-west, the surface of the land being 
 patched and streaked with snow. Seaward 
 was one vast expanse of white ice, with small 
 lakes of dark water dotting its surface here 
 and there, but the dreariness of this view was 
 relieved by the number of vessels in sight. 
 
 This evening the crew w'ere divided into 
 watches and punts-crews, and prepared their 
 bats and gaffs, expressions whose meaning will 
 be better understood by the following descrip¬ 
 tion of the method adopted in manning a seal¬ 
 ing vessel. The vessel undertakes to carry a 
 certain number of men, and she is fitted out, 
 provisioned, and found in everything by her 
 owner, or a merchant hiring her, as the case 
 
Chap. VIII.J MANNING A SEALING VESSEL. 259 
 
 may be. The men then apply for a berth on 
 board of her, and all those who are selected pay 
 so much for their berth, generally about four 
 pounds currency, and for this they are supplied 
 with the ships’ provisions during the voyage. 
 The results of the voyage on their return are 
 divided into two equal halves, one of which is 
 shared among the men, the other divided be¬ 
 tween the captain and merchant in different 
 proportions, according to their agreement or 
 their various shares in the risk of the specu¬ 
 lation. Captain Furneaux was both master 
 and owner of the Topaz, and I believe he bore 
 all the risk of the voyage, paying for her 
 supplies and engaging his crew. The crew 
 consisted of thirty-six men, who were divided 
 into three watches, each under an appointed 
 master of the watch, specifically engaged 
 under that designation, and receiving some¬ 
 thing more than the rest of the crew. The 
 men had each equal authority, and each acted 
 as mate during his own watch, the charge of 
 the deck being left to his care when the cap¬ 
 tain was below. We carried nine four-oared 
 punts, three of them commanded by the three 
 masters of the watch, and the other six by men 
 
260 excursions in Newfoundland. [Chap. viii. 
 
 picked from the crew, and likewise appointed 
 by the captain. These punt-masters then drew 
 lots, each one putting some article, such as a 
 knife, &c., into a cap or bag, which was 
 brought to the captain, who drew the articles 
 out at random, and as he drew them out their 
 owners were arranged accordingly. Then, in 
 the order in which they were thus arranged, 
 each in succession selected a punt out of the 
 nine on deck, and afterwards chose the men to 
 make up his crew. Each punt had, therefore, 
 three men and a master attached to it, who 
 alone were suffered to man it; and in cases of 
 emergency, by calling out the number of the 
 punt or the name of its master, it was ready 
 and manned, without confusion or delay. This 
 having been settled every man prepared his 
 “ gaff,” by firmly fastening a spiked hook like 
 a boat-hook, with strong line, to the head of a 
 stout pole, about six or eight feet long; seve¬ 
 ral yards of strong cord were also selected, 
 which were prepared with a noose, for a 
 “ hauling rope,” the use of which will be seen 
 hereafter. 
 
 By the time that all these arrangements 
 were made night was falling; and running 
 
Chap. VIII.] MAKING WAY THROUGH THK ICR. 261 
 
 the vessel's nose into a stout pan of ice along¬ 
 side, we brailed up and furled our sails, and lay 
 secure and motionless as if moored to a wharf. 
 
 March 5th.—This morning was dark and 
 foffffv, with the wind at south-east. At seven 
 o’clock, after making a tack or two about an 
 open lake, and finding no channel, we dashed 
 into the ice, with all sail set, in company with 
 two other vessels, on a north north-west course. 
 The ice soon got firmer, thicker, and heavier, 
 aud we shortly stuck fast. “ Overboard with 
 you ! gaffs and pokers!” sung out the captain ; 
 and over went, accordingly, the major part of 
 the crew to the ice. The pokers were large 
 poles of light wood, six or eight inches in cir¬ 
 cumference, and twelve or fifteen feet long: 
 pounding with these, or hewing the ice with 
 axes, the men would split the pans near the 
 bows of the vessel, and then, inserting the ends 
 of the pokers, use them as large levers, lifting 
 up one side of the broken piece and depressing 
 the other, and several getting round with their 
 gaffs, they shoved it, by main force, under the 
 adjoining ice. Smashing, breaking, and pound¬ 
 ing the smaller pieces in the course the vessel 
 wished to take, room was afforded for the mo- 
 
262 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 tion of the larger pans. Laying out great 
 claws on the ice ahead, when the wind was 
 light the crew warped the vessel on. If a large 
 and strong pan was met with, the ice-saw was 
 got out. Sometimes, a crowd of men clinging 
 round the ship’s bows, and holding on to the 
 bights of ropes suspended there for the purpose, 
 would jump and dance on the ice, bending 
 and breaking it w T ith their weight, shoving it 
 below T the vessel, and dragging her on over it 
 with all their force. Up to their knees in 
 water, as one piece after another sank below 
 the cutwater, they still held on, hurraing at 
 every fresh start she made, dancing, jumping, 
 pushing, shoving, hauling, hewing, sawing, till 
 every soul on board was roused into excited 
 exertion. After looking on some time, I could 
 stand it no longer : so, seizing a gaff, I jumped 
 overboard, but soon got a damper, as, in my 
 first essay to cross before the vessel, I did not 
 distinguish the sound pieces from the mere 
 broken mash and lolly, and in I went to my 
 middle before I was aware of it. One of the 
 men caught hold of me, and I scrambled up 
 the side of the vessel, a little cooler than I went 
 down. Every fresh hand, they said, has to pay 
 
Chap. VIII.] CUTTING THROUGH THE ICE. 263 
 
 his footing for liis first dip : so I was obliged 
 not only to lose my footing in water myself, 
 but give it afterwards in rum to the crew. 
 They continued their exertions the whole of 
 the day, relieved occasionally by small open 
 pools of water; and in the evening we calcu¬ 
 lated we had made about fifteen miles. 
 
 It continued foggy all day, and at night it 
 began to rain. We had seen no vessel since 
 the morning—nothing but a dreary expanse of 
 ice and snow stretching away into the misty 
 horizon. 
 
 March 6th.—At daylight we found ourselves 
 a few miles from Green’s Pond, on the north 
 side of Bonavista Bay, and with the glass could 
 discern the houses and the church. The wind 
 was from the west, and the sky fine and clear. 
 Several vessels were near us, and many more 
 on the horizon. The ice became thicker, 
 stronger, and more compact. We made a few 
 miles in the morning, and stuck fast the rest 
 of the day in a very large pan or field of ice, 
 sawing, axing, prising, warping, &c. &c., as 
 yesterday. The thermometer during the day 
 was about 37°, and the weather pleasant. I 
 walked about on the ice to get accustomed to 
 
264 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 it. In the afternoon a long swell came in from 
 the eastward, raising the fields of ice in long 
 slow undulations as far as we could see. There 
 was, however, no open water visible in any di¬ 
 rection from the mast-head. In the evening 
 it was mild, with a drizzling rain. 
 
 March 7th.—Fresh breeze from west and 
 north-west, cold but fine. A vessel close by 
 left St. John’s just after we did ; her captain 
 came on board and made a morning call. The 
 ice gets continually heavier as we proceed to 
 the northward ; great blocks and slabs of it are 
 tilted up and piled on one another here and 
 there, as if occasionally jammed and forced to¬ 
 gether with great violence. In the afternoon 
 the ice opened a little, the pans became more 
 loose, and separated a little one from the other. 
 We accordingly crowded all sail, and cracked 
 on with a fresh breeze, urging our way now 
 through slowly yielding pans, now sailing gal¬ 
 lantly through an open lake of water, and then 
 crashing into a great sheet of ice, splitting it 
 with a mighty fissure, but brought up our¬ 
 selves all standing and top-gallants set. Then, 
 slowly gathering way again, we proceeded as 
 before. The motion while in the ice is like 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 THE FIRST SEAL. 
 
 265 
 
 that of a steamer, continually trembling and 
 vibrating with the thumping and rubbing of 
 the ice, while the scraping of the pieces against 
 the sides of the vessel makes a noise like the 
 roar of machinery. The weather was fine and 
 clear, and in the afternoon we got one or two 
 good runs through some large lakes of water, 
 and hove-to during the night in a smaller one, 
 the wind blowing a heavy breeze. 
 
 March 8th.—Quite calm this morning, with 
 large pieces of ice all around us. I shot a sea¬ 
 bird, called in Newfoundland a mur, which is, 
 
 I believe, some species of mergulus; and saw 
 also a large snowy owl flying about, but could 
 not get a shot. I found also on a piece of ice 
 the greater portion of one of the common 
 echini of Newfoundland, broken, and full of 
 dried mud. This must have been inclosed in 
 the ice originally on the beach, in some bay 
 or inlet, as, if brought by a bird, it would have 
 contained no dirt. We were now, however, 
 at least forty miles from land, and surrounded 
 by ice on all sides. In the course of the morn¬ 
 ing I spied a great seal on the ice about a 
 quarter of a mile off, and, taking my rifle and 
 a man with a gaff, went to get a shot. We 
 
266 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 found, however, the ice in that direction broken 
 by many channels full of “ lolly,” which were 
 too wide to leap. In returning, I slipped in 
 jumping from one pan to another, and fell into 
 some of this “ lolly luckily I had passed the 
 gun to the man, and he had given me the gaff, 
 which, as I fell, was caught by its ends upon 
 the ice, and by this means I got across to mv 
 companion, who hauled me out. I had heavy 
 seal-skin boots on, coming half way up the 
 thigh, which being now full of lolly formed a 
 delightful case for my leg had I wished it 
 frozen. However, the ducking seemed to do 
 me good, and, oddly enough, quite cured a 
 cold which I had felt coming on before the 
 accident. In the evening a cold north wind 
 sprang up, and the ice closed in on every side, 
 locking us quite fast. Thermometer on deck 
 at six p.m. 24°. 
 
 Last night, as we sailed rapidly through the 
 broken ice and water, there was an abundance 
 of the phosphorescent flashes and sparks so 
 w r ell known at sea. Many of these sparks 
 were observed, not only in the water, but either 
 in or upon the small lumps of ice. They must 
 probably have been in the water which washed 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 PHOSPHORESCENT ICE. 
 
 267 
 
 over the ice, but they had every appearance of 
 being in the ice, whose interior appeared to he 
 lit up by them. They were most beautiful 
 objects, and might have formed fitting lamps 
 for the caves of the Nereids. Stuwitz found 
 infusoria in ice in Fortune Bay, which, when 
 the ice was melted, were living and uninjured. 
 
 March 9th.—Light wind from north. Ther¬ 
 mometer at nine a.m. 22°, and in the after¬ 
 noon 27°. We passed this morning through 
 some very heavy ice. It was broken and piled 
 in huge slabs and blocks, resting one upon ano¬ 
 ther in various directions, the cracks and cre¬ 
 vices filled up with snow, and frequently worn 
 by successive thaws and frosts, rains, winds, 
 and waves, into the most striking and fantastic 
 forms. This broken ice occupied a rather 
 definite band for some distance, and appeared 
 to have been once the external edge of the ice 
 on which a heavy sea had beat violently. 
 Many of these blocks were higher than the 
 rail of the vessel, or about fifteen or twenty 
 feet from the surface of the sea, and as many 
 yards in diameter, with upright sheets and 
 pinnacles rising occasionally still higher. 
 
 n 2 
 
268 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 March 10th.—At dawn a gale from the 
 south brought rain and dirty weather, and we 
 lay all day fast in the ice with our sails 
 furled. In the afternoon we filled all the water- 
 casks that had up to this time been emptied 
 With beautifully clear fresh water, collected 
 in the hollow of a pan alongside of us. After 
 dark the wind fell, and the clouds gradu¬ 
 ally cleared off before a light westerly breeze, 
 unfolding a most lovely sky studded with bright 
 stars, and adorned by the presence of the young 
 moon, and the brilliant flickering streamers of 
 a fine aurora in the north. The ice too opened, 
 and we sailed gently through calm water, 
 among numberless fairy islets of glittering ice 
 and wreaths of snow, with shining pinnacles 
 and fantastic forms floating calmly about us, 
 and— 
 
 “ Quietly shining to the quiet moon.” 
 Everything was still, and even the sailors 
 hushed their noisy clamour, insensibly silenced 
 by the influence of this most lovely scene. 
 Even the hoarse voice of the master of the 
 watch as he sung out, from the foretop, brief 
 orders to the helmsman, was not out of har- 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 A STILL NIGHT. 
 
 269 
 
 mony with the feelings of the time, while, 
 sounding* at intervals, it served but to make 
 the silence of all nature around us more deep 
 and solemn. For a long* time Stuwitz and 
 I stood silent in the bows of the vessel, en¬ 
 tranced by the novelty and beauty of all 
 around and above us. It seemed the realiza¬ 
 tion of the poetic visions of early youth in 
 its dreams of the fleeting and unearthly loveli¬ 
 ness of fairy-land. Gradually, however, the 
 aurora faded from the sky, the vessel passed 
 from the open pools of water into a field of 
 closely packed ice-pans; and the enchantment 
 was dissolved by the cry of “ Gaffs and pokers! ” 
 and the usual thumping, grinding, and shout¬ 
 ing of our passage through close ice. 
 
 March 11th.—Light breeze from the S.E., 
 with fog and hoar frost. Thermometer at 10 
 a.m. 33° F. The vessel making but little way, 
 the ice being closely packed. Two men came on 
 board this morning from a vessel at no great 
 distance, but which we could not see for the 
 fog. It was singular, in such apparently utter 
 solitude and desolation, to see two human 
 beings making their appearance. After a chat 
 with their friends on board the Topaz, and a 
 
270 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 glass of grog, they went off again into the fog 
 to return to their vessel. The watch on deck 
 last night heard the cry of a young seal. The 
 weather remained the same all day, but in 
 the afternoon the ice opened, and we got a fair 
 run of some distance to the northward. 
 
 March 12th.—Again foggy, with a south¬ 
 east wind. As we stood on deck this morning 
 before breakfast, we heard a cry down to lee¬ 
 ward, like the cry of a gull, which some of 
 the men said it was. It became, however, so 
 loud and continued, that both Stuwitz and I 
 doubted its being the cry of any bird, and one 
 of the men took a gaff and went to look. We 
 watched him for some distance with our glasses 
 as he proceeded slowly through the fog till he 
 suddenly began to run, and then struck at 
 something, and presently returned dragging 
 a young seal alive over the ice, and brought 
 it on deck. It was of a dirty white colour, 
 with short close fur, large dark expressive eyes, 
 and it paddled and walloped about the deck 
 fie: ce and bawling. A Newfoundland dog called 
 Nestor, belonging to the Captain, approached 
 it, but it snapped at his nose and bit him, 
 though its teeth were but just beginning to 
 
Chap. VIII.] CATCHING A YOUNG SEAL. ' 27 1 
 
 appear. After taking it down below to show 
 the Captain and demand the usual quart of 
 rum for the first man who caught a seal, one 
 of the men knocked it on the head and skinned 
 it. Stuwitz then cut off its “ Uppers” or paws 
 and its head, and after breakfast we took it 
 into the “ after-hatch,” or steerage, w here he 
 drew and dissected it. In the middle of the 
 day we heard from some of the men who had 
 been out on the ice, that a vessel a few miles 
 a-head of us had already 2500 seals on board, 
 so we pushed on through the ice, and shortly 
 came into a lake of water. On the borders of 
 this many young seals were lying, and two 
 or three punts were hoisted out to despatch 
 and collect them. I shot one through the 
 head that was scuffling off a pan of ice, but 
 the crew begged me to desist, as they said 
 the balls might glance from the ice and 
 injure some of the men who were about. 
 Having picked up the few which were imme¬ 
 diately about us, we hoisted in our punts again, 
 as there w r ere several vessels near us, and more 
 coming up, and bore away farther north 
 through an open pool of water. In passing 
 through a thin skirt of ice, one of the men 
 
272 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 hooked up a young seal with his gaff. Its 
 cries were precisely like those of a young child 
 in the extremity of agony and distress, some¬ 
 thing between shrieks and convulsive sobbings. 
 It thrilled one’s nerves at first, but wdien I 
 found that their sole employment, when alone 
 on the ice, was uttering similar cries, and that 
 nearly the same cry was expressive of enjoy¬ 
 ment or defiance as of pain and fear, I became 
 more reconciled. We soon afterwards passed 
 through some loose ice on which the young seals 
 were scattered, and nearly all hands were over¬ 
 board slaying, skinning, and hauling. We then 
 got into another lake of water and sent out 
 five punts. The crews of these joined those 
 already on the ice, and dragging either the 
 wdiole seals or their “ pelts ” to the edge of the 
 water, collected them in the punts, and when 
 one of these was full brought them on board. 
 The cook of the vessel, and my man Simon, 
 with the Captain and myself, managed the 
 vessel, circumnavigating the lake and picking 
 up the boats as they put off one after another 
 from the edge of the ice. In this way, when it 
 became too dark to do any more, we found we 
 had got three hundred seals on board, and 
 
Chap. VIII.] KILLING AND SKINNING THE SEALS. 273 
 
 the deck was one great shambles. When piled 
 in a heap together the young seals looked like 
 so many lambs, and when occasionally, from 
 out of the bloody and dirty mass of carcasses, 
 one poor wretch still alive would lift up its 
 face and begin to flounder about, I could stand 
 it no longer; and arming myself with a hand¬ 
 spike I proceeded to knock on the head and put 
 out of their misery all in whom I saw signs of 
 life. After dark we left the lake and sot 
 jammed in afield of ice with the wind blowing- 
 strong from the north-west. The watch was 
 employed in skinning those seals which were 
 brought on board whole, and throwing away 
 the carcass. In skinning, a cut is made through 
 the fat to the flesh, a thickness generally of 
 about three inches, along the whole length of 
 the belly from the throat to the tail. The 
 legs or “ fippers,” and also the head, are 
 then drawn out from the inside, and the 
 skin is laid out flat and entire, with the 
 layer of fat or blubber firmly adhering to it, 
 and the skin in this state is called the “ pelt,” 
 and sometimes the “ sculp.” It is generally 
 about three feet long and two feet and a half 
 wide, and weighs from thirty to fifty pounds. 
 
 n 3 
 
274 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 The carcass when turned out of its warm cover¬ 
 ing is light and slim, and, except such parts 
 as are preserved for eating, is thrown away. 
 
 March 13 th.—As soon as it was light this 
 morning all hands were overboard on the ice, 
 and the whole of the day was employed in 
 slaughtering young seals in all directions and 
 hauling their pelts to the vessel. The day was 
 clear and cold, with a strong north-west wind 
 blowing, and occasionall}' the vessel made 
 good way through the ice, the men following 
 her and clearing off the seals on each side as 
 we went along. The young seals lie dis¬ 
 persed here and there on the ice, basking in 
 the sun, and often sheltered by the rough 
 blocks and piles of ice, covered with snow. 
 Six or eight may sometimes be seen within a 
 space of twenty yards square. The men, armed 
 with a gaff and a hauling rope slung over their 
 shoulders, disperse about on the ice, and when¬ 
 ever they find a seal strike it a heavy blow on 
 the head, which either stuns the animal or 
 kills it outright. Having killed or at least 
 stunned all they see within a short distance, 
 they skin, or, as they call it, “ sculp ” them 
 with a broad clasp-knife, called a sculping- 
 
Chap. VIII. J “SCULPING.” 275 
 
 knife, and nicking* two holes along the edge 
 of each side of the skin, they lay them one 
 over another, passing the rope through the 
 nose of each pelt and lacing it through the 
 side holes, in such a manner that when pulled 
 tight it draws them into a compact bundle. 
 Fastening the gaff in this bundle, they then 
 put the rope over the shoulder, and haul it 
 away over the ice to the vessel. In this way 
 they bring in bundles of pelts three, six, or 
 even seven at a time, and sometimes from 
 a distance of two miles. Six pelts, how¬ 
 ever, is reckoned a very heavy load to drag 
 over the rough and broken ice, leaping from 
 pan to pan, and they generally contrive to 
 keep two or three together to assist each other 
 at the bad places, or to pull those out who fall 
 into the water. The ice to-day was in places 
 very slippery and in others broken and trea¬ 
 cherous, and as I had not got my boots pro¬ 
 perly fitted with “ sparables ” and “ chisels ” I 
 stayed on board and helped the captain and the 
 cook in managing the vessel and whipping in 
 the pelts as they were brought alongside. By 
 twelve o’clock, however, my arms were aching 
 with this work, and on the lee side of the vessel 
 
276 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 we stood more than knee deep in warm seal 
 skins, all blood and fat. Some of the men 
 brought in as many as sixty each in the course 
 of the day, and by night the decks were co¬ 
 vered, in many places the full height of the rail. 
 As the men came on board they occasionally 
 snatched a hasty moment to drink a bowl of 
 tea, or eat a piece of biscuit and butter; and as 
 the sweat was dripping from their faces, and 
 their hands and bodies were reeking with blood 
 and fat, and they often spread the butter w*ith 
 their thumbs, and wiped their faces with the 
 backs of their hands, they took both the liquids 
 and the solids mingled with blood. The deck 
 of course, when the deck could be seen, was 
 almost as slippery with gore as if it had been 
 ice. Still there was a bustle and excitement 
 in the scene that did not permit the fancy to 
 dwell on the disagreeables, and after a hearty 
 refreshment the men would snatch up their 
 gaffs and hauling ropes, and hurry off in 
 search of new victims : besides, everv pelt was 
 worth a dollar! During this time hundreds 
 of old seals were popping up their heads in 
 
 the small lakes of water and holes amono- the 
 
 © 
 
 ice, anxiously looking for their young. Occa- 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 SEAL-CATCHING. 
 
 2 77 
 
 sionally one would hurry across -a pan in 
 search of the snow-white darling she had left, 
 and which she could not recognise in the 
 bloody and broken carcass, stripped of its 
 warm covering, that alone remained of it. 
 
 I fired several times at these old ones in the 
 afternoon with my rifle from the deck, but 
 without success, as unless the ball hits them 
 on the head, it is a great chance whether it 
 touch any vital part, the body being so thickly 
 clothed with fat. In the evening, however, 
 Captain Furneaux went out on the ice and 
 killed two with his sealing-gun loaded witli 
 seal shot. The wind had now sunk to a light 
 air, and the sun set most gloriously, glancing 
 from the golden west across the bright expanse 
 of snow, now stained with many a bloody 
 spot and the ensanguined trail which marked 
 the footsteps of the intruders on the peaceful¬ 
 ness of the scene. Several vessels came up 
 near us from the south, in the afternoon; but 
 notwithstanding all the slaughter the air as 
 night closed in resounded with the cries of 
 the young seals on every side of us. As the 
 sunlight faded in the west, the quiet moon 
 looked down from the zenith, and a brilliant 
 
278 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 arch of aurora crossed the heavens nearly 
 from east to west, in a long waving line of 
 glancing light, slowly moving backwards and 
 forwards from north to south across the face 
 of the moon. The evenings after a north-west 
 wind are certainly most lovely, the atmo¬ 
 sphere clear and transparent, and having that 
 dry crispness and elasticity that makes every 
 breath send the blood dancing with fresh vi¬ 
 gour from the heart. It is on a clear night, 
 moreover, beneath the milder light of the 
 moon, and contrasted with the deeper blue 
 of the sky, that ice scenery looks best. In 
 daylight it is too dazzling, garish and mo¬ 
 notonous : the moon and the stars, and the 
 quivering aurora, are its fittest accompani¬ 
 ments. 
 
 March 14th. — Wind north-east, with fog 
 and snow. Early in the morning the crew 
 were out on the ice, and brought in 350 seals. 
 The number hauled in yesterday was 1380, 
 making the total number now on board up¬ 
 wards of 2,000. After suffering the pelts to 
 lie open on deck a few hours, in order to get 
 cool, they are stowed away in the hold, being 
 laid one over the other in pairs, each pair having 
 
Chap. VIII.] PACKING THE SEAL-SKINS. 279 
 
 the hair outwards. The hold is divided by 
 stout partitions into several compartments or 
 “ pounds ” to prevent too much motion among 
 the seal-skins and keep each in its place. 
 The ballast is heaved entirely out as the pelts 
 are stowed away, and the cargo is trusted to 
 to ballast the vessel. In consequence of 
 neglecting to divide the hold into pounds in 
 one of his earlier voyages, Captain Furneaux 
 told us he once lost his vessel. He was de¬ 
 tained on his return, with 5000 seals on board, 
 by strong contrary gales which kept him at 
 sea till by the continual motion and friction 
 his seals began to run into oil. The skins 
 then dashed about from one side of the hold to 
 the other, with every roll of the vessel, and he 
 was obliged to run before the wind, which was 
 then blowing from the north-west. The oil 
 spread from the hold into the cabin and fore¬ 
 castle, floating over everything and forcing the 
 crew to remain on the deck. They got up 
 some bags of bread, and by putting a pump 
 down through the oil into the water-casks they 
 managed to get fresh water. After being in 
 this state some days, himself and his crew 
 were taken out of the vessel by a ship they 
 
280 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 luckily fell in with, and carried to St. John’s, 
 New Brunswick; but his ow r n vessel, with her 
 once valuable cargo, and almost all the pro¬ 
 perty of both himself and his crew, were neces¬ 
 sarily abandoned to the mercy of the winds 
 and waves, and what became of her was never 
 known. This was a good practical lesson as to 
 the proper method of stowing a cargo of seals, 
 and one not likely to be forgotten: in the pre¬ 
 sent instance, therefore, the pounds were both 
 numerous and strong. In the middle of the 
 day the wind increased to a gale, with a heavy 
 drift of snow, making it impossible to stir far 
 from the vessel, and we shortly made a start 
 and sailed with a close-reefed fore topsail 
 through broken ice and pools of water. Sud¬ 
 denly we fell in with a number of seals, and 
 in the hurry of the moment I followed several 
 of the crew overboard to the ice, with my gun, 
 and made for an old one I saw not far off. All 
 the surface being quite white, I took it for 
 granted we were fast in a great field of ice, 
 and only just discovered, time enough to pre¬ 
 vent my stepping into it, that the surface of 
 the water was covered with snow which con¬ 
 gealed as it fell, and that there were only a few 
 
Chap. VIII.J 
 
 DEPARTURE. 
 
 281 
 
 pans of ice around the vessel, which was still 
 under way. By this time the Captain and 
 Stuwitz were shouting to me to come on board, 
 and running to the bows of the vessel across 
 the last pan of ice that touched her, I had only 
 just time to pass up my gun to a man that 
 stooped over for it, and swing into the bight of 
 a rope, before we were in clear water, driving 
 furiously along. My essays hitherto were 
 thus eminently unsuccessful. The Captain 
 now took in all sail, and we scudded under 
 bare poles amid clouds of snow, till we stuck 
 fast in a larsje field of ice. We were then se- 
 curely harboured, the men turned in, fastened 
 down the hatches, and we in the cabin ate, 
 drank, smoked, and read the few books we had 
 with us, making ourselves as comfortable as 
 circumstances would permit. Our only draw¬ 
 back of any consequence was the smokiness 
 of the stove, but I never was in a vessel yet 
 in which the smoke did not come down the 
 funnel of the stove at least as often as it went 
 up it. 
 
 March loth. — I was awakened last night by 
 the vessel rocking, for the first time since we 
 had entered the ice, and found that the field 
 
282 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 about us had opened into great bays of water. 
 It was now blowing a furious gale, and we were 
 sailing under the spencer through loose ice and 
 open pools. The decks were as slippery as 
 glass with frozen snow and blood ; the ther¬ 
 mometer being down at 17° at two p.m. We 
 still picked up a young seal or two in the 
 morning, but in the afternoon were again fast 
 among close ice, and there was nothing more 
 to be done but to repeat the amusements and 
 occupations of yesterday. Towards evening 
 the wind moderated a little, but was still very 
 cold. 
 
 March 16th. — Beautiful morning, with a 
 light wind from the west. Sailing through 
 thin ice and open spaces of water. There were 
 many vessels in sight, and several icebergs, 
 some of the latter of considerable size. At ten 
 a. m. the thermometer was 27°. We did not 
 get near any icebergs, but looking at them 
 with the assistance of the telescope I could see 
 nothing but ice and snow. A large one about 
 three miles from us had apparently been half 
 tilted over, there being a perfectly straight in¬ 
 dented mark across it, which had evidently 
 once been its water line, though now it crossed 
 
Chap. VIII. J 
 
 ICEBERGS. 
 
 283 
 
 the mass diagonally at an angle of about 45° 
 with the horizon. Above this water line the 
 ice was rough and jagged, below it smooth, 
 though not level, and evidently water-worn. 
 Behind the iceberg appeared a large low 
 mass that may have been broken off from 
 it, and thus caused it to tilt over. The field 
 ice appeared to get thinner as we proceeded 
 northwards, many pans, apparently firm, be¬ 
 ing nothing but frozen snow, through which 
 one could drive a gaff, and one or two of 
 the men got a ducking in consequence. I 
 went out in a punt, and at a distance of not 
 more than twenty yards positively drove a 
 ball into the throat of an old seal that rose 
 to look at us; notwithstanding which, he dived 
 and got away. We brought one young seal 
 on board to-day, alive and unhurt, by my par¬ 
 ticular request. He lay very quiet on deck, 
 opening and closing his curious nostrils (which, 
 when expanded, were nearly round, but closed 
 firmly into a narrow slit), and occasionally lift¬ 
 ing his fine dark lustrous eyes as if with 
 wonder at the strange scene around him. His 
 fur being quite dry and clean was as white 
 as wool—short, and close, and thick, com- 
 
234 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 posed of strong hair standing out perpen¬ 
 dicularly everywhere, except on his face and 
 his Uppers, or paws. On being patted on the 
 head he drew it in, making his face perpen¬ 
 dicular to his body, knitted his brows, shut 
 up his eyes and nostrils, and he then pre¬ 
 sented a very droll appearance, having a comi¬ 
 cal countenance in a circular bush-wig. With 
 his head extended, however, and his eyes open, 
 he was really a very pretty creature, looking 
 so warm, and round, and comfortable. When 
 teased, although quite young, he was fierce, 
 biting and scratching at everything about him; 
 but on being patted and stroked he imme¬ 
 diately became quiet. These animals might 
 certainly be easily tamed if properly managed. 
 The men and the dog, however, teased this one 
 till he became exhausted and dying, and 1 
 passed my knife into his heart, to put a stop to 
 it at once. In the afternoon two of the men 
 went out on the ice with their sealing guns, 
 and shot three bedlamers, or seals of one year 
 old, and brought them on board, where Stu- 
 witz measured, drew, and described them. 
 The sealing-gun is an immense affair, as long 
 as a duck-gun, but with a much wider bore, 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 SHOOTING THE SEALS. 
 
 283 
 
 roughly made, and, in some instances, not 
 over-sound. The men put in a great charge 
 of powder and shot—frequently ten fingers’ 
 breadth, or even more—the powder being- 
 coarse, and the shot larger than buck-shot, 
 consisting, in fact, rather of small bullets than 
 shot, being cast, and not dropped. It was as 
 much as I could do to hold one of these guns 
 straight out; and the men were frequently 
 knocked down by its rebound, when they fired 
 standing on slippery ice. 
 
 At twelve o’clock to-day we took an obser¬ 
 vation, for the first time, and found our latitude 
 to be 50° 17'. What our longitude was we 
 were obliged to guess—no chronometer could 
 stand the jarring and thumping it would re¬ 
 ceive in so small a vessel among the ice; and 
 as for keeping a dead reckoning, that was en¬ 
 tirely out of the question. Working and wind¬ 
 ing our way among the ice wherever there 
 seemed the best opening between the pans, 
 changing our course every minute, the vessel 
 brought with her head up in the wind by the 
 pressure of a pan of ice at one minute, turned off 
 by another right before it the next minute, sail¬ 
 ing now rapidly through a pool of water, then 
 
286 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 stuck fast for half an hour in the ice, and, 
 even when apparently stationary, drifting in 
 an unknown direction, at an unknown rate, 
 with the whole body of the ice—the log is of 
 course utterly useless. All we knew was that 
 we were north or north-east of Newfound¬ 
 land, in latitude 50° \1'. This is the parallel 
 of the south coast of Devonshire, where the 
 winters are so mild, and where a lump of ice 
 out at sea would astonish the inhabitants not a 
 little. What would these good people think 
 if the English Channel, the Irish Sea, and the 
 German Ocean were blocked up with icefloes, 
 and if it were possible to cross from France to 
 England, and thence to Ireland; to proceed 
 northwards and pass over first to Scotland, 
 and then to Norway, and afterwards coming 
 southwards, to return again from France to 
 England, and all on solid ice ? Had the west¬ 
 ern coast of Europe the same climate as the 
 eastern coast of America, this would be an 
 occurrence within the limits of possibility, 
 and certainly not a winter would pass without 
 all the seas round England being blocked up 
 with ice; our early crops would then perish ; 
 our woods woidd become stunted, and our 
 
Cuap. YIII.J COLD OF EASTERN AMERICA. 287 
 
 oaks, ashes, and elms give way to pines and 
 larches: mosses and lichens would spread over 
 our corn-fields and pastures, and England 
 would become a desolate and barren country. 
 
 In the afternoon a St. John’s schooner came 
 alongside, with scarcely any seals on board, 
 and followed us for the rest of the day, hoping 
 to profit by our good fortune. Captain Fur- 
 neaux was a noted man as a lucky seal-hunter ; 
 the luck, in fact, consisting in energy and 
 perseverance, and never stopping or losing a 
 minute till he did find them. In the evening 
 the wind fell to a light air, and the sunset was 
 beautiful. AVe were sailing quietly to the 
 north, through thin, broken ice, in hopes of 
 meeting with some of a thicker and firmer 
 description, on which there was a greater pro¬ 
 bability of finding seals. The moon was 
 bright overhead, with thin streaks of cloud 
 in patches about the sky, dimly veiling the 
 stars; and though it was cold, we stood long 
 on deck watching- the shadow of the sails as 
 we passed successively from the white ice to 
 the dark water. 
 
 March 17th.—A beautiful morning, quite 
 calm and mild. In the afternoon a light air 
 
288 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 sprung up from the south-east, and it became 
 rather foggy; the ice was very loose, and the 
 pans, covered with snow, were very rotten and 
 treacherous. The decks were now cleared up, 
 and everything put snug and comfortable again. 
 In some of the open pools of water to-day I 
 observed a singular appearance. Spaces fifty 
 or sixty yards across were covered with a thin 
 film of clear ice, that seemed to be made up of 
 round scales the size of one’s hand, frozen 
 together into larger flakes or scales about a 
 yard in diameter : these frequently overlapped 
 each other, and being very bright and shining, 
 looked like the scaly side of a gigantic fish. 
 We gathered some snow from the surface of a 
 pan to-day that seemed quite salt, the spray of 
 the sea having probably been blown over it. 
 
 March 18th.—Fine morning, light breeze 
 from the east, the vessel making some way 
 among ice very loose and rather thin. The 
 farther we go north the more thin and broken 
 the ice seems to get, much of it seeming to be 
 merely frozen snow, which, alighting on the 
 surface of the sea, has become saturated with 
 water and then frozen hard. We got one 
 young seal again this morning, and an old 
 
Cu.m*. VI1I.J 
 
 A HOODED SEAL. 
 
 289 
 
 hooded seal made his appearance alongside, 
 being- the first we had seen—all we had 
 hitherto met with being harp-seals. At eleven 
 o’clock we came within two miles of a schooner 
 that was moored to a pan of ice on one side of 
 a lake of open water, and we sent a punt ac¬ 
 cordingly to see if there were seals in the 
 neighbourhood. As soon as they touched the 
 ice, we saAv the men commence killing and 
 hauling, so we immediately hoisted out all the 
 punts and went after them. I went with one 
 punt, taking my double-barrelled gun and 
 some seal-shot. I got several shots at old 
 seals, but found the charges from my fowling- 
 piece not heavy enough for them, as, though I 
 wounded several severely, most of them got 
 away, and I only killed one or two dead on the 
 spot. Even the young ones, unless hit about 
 the head or in the heart, will carry off a good 
 deal of shot. I knocked over one young one 
 that was shuffling off a pan, but notwithstand¬ 
 ing this he popped into the water, and swim¬ 
 ming about ten yards, crawled on to another 
 pan, when I gave him the other barrel: he 
 again got into the water, and on his crawling- 
 out one of the men fired a sealing-gun at him, 
 
 VOL. i. 
 
 o 
 
‘290 
 
 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 but the contents only striking him about the 
 tail he again got away, and it was only by 
 shooting him in the head as he raised it from 
 the water, that I succeeded in killing him at 
 last. Generally, however, the young ones 
 did not attempt to stir as we approached them, 
 and quietly suffered themselves to be knocked 
 on the head with the gaff, and skinned on the 
 spot. I saw one poor wretch skinned, or 
 sculped, while yet alive, and the body writhing 
 in blood after being stripped of its pelt. The 
 man told me he had seen them swim away in 
 that state, and that if the first blow did not 
 kill them, they could not stop to give them a 
 second. How is it one can steel one’s mind to 
 look on that which to read of, or even to think 
 of afterwards, makes one shudder? In the 
 bustle, hurry, and excitement, these things pass 
 as a matter of course and as if necessary, but 
 they are most horrible, and will not admit of 
 an attempt at palliation. As this morning I 
 was left alone to take care of the punt while 
 the men were on the ice, the mass of dying car¬ 
 casses piled in the boat around me each writh¬ 
 ing, gasping, and spouting blood into the air 
 nearly made me sick. Seeking; relief in action. 
 
Chap. VIII.] HORRIBLE TREATMENT OF THE SEALS. 291 
 
 I drove the sharp point of the gaff into the 
 brain of every one in which I could see a sign 
 of life. The vision of one poor wretch writh¬ 
 ing its snow-white woolly body with its head 
 bathed in blood, through which it was vainly 
 endeavouring to see and breathe, really haunted 
 my dreams. Notwithstanding all this the ex¬ 
 citement of being out in the punt, forcing our 
 way through narrow channels between the 
 ice-pans into lakes of water where old seals 
 were sporting on every side, filling our boat 
 with pelts, engineering so as to sweep over a 
 mile or two of new ground, and return to the 
 vessel by a different way from that we came, 
 clearing the ice of seals as we went along, and 
 the hunting spirit which makes almost every 
 man an animal of prey, and delight in the 
 produce of his gun or his bow, kept me in the 
 punt till a late hour in the afternoon. In our 
 first trip we brought thirty-three on board; in 
 the second, forty-four; and in the third, a still 
 greater number. Thirty old or “ round seals,” 
 or sixty pelts, are as many as the boat will 
 carry with four men. One boat, however, 
 brought one hundred and three at one trip, 
 having upwards of forty in tow in the water, 
 
 o 2 
 
292 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 but she was down nearly to the water’s edge. 
 Stuwitz made, I believe, several interesting 
 observations to-day on both old and young as 
 they were brought on board, as also on the 
 still-born young, which the men call cats, and 
 of which we found several lying on the ice. 
 By night-fall we again had our decks co¬ 
 vered with seals’ pelts, and the men were 
 busy all night heaving out ballast and stowing 
 them away. 
 
 March 19th.—Foggy, and nearly calm: a 
 few punts were out in the morning, but it was 
 too thick to go far, and there were but few 
 seals near us. There were 1080 brought in 
 yesterday, and about 100 this morning, making 
 about 3300 now on board altogether. We 
 sailed about an open lake of water all day, and 
 at night went into the ice. A heavy swell 
 was now rolling in from the east, raising all 
 the ice into long sweeping undulations of 
 considerable height and breadth : there was 
 not, however, much drifting or clashing of 
 the ice-pans together, but each piece rose and 
 fell perpendicularly on the waves that succes¬ 
 sively travelled beneath it, without other ap¬ 
 parent motion. The thermometer for the last 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 THE HOODED SEAL. 
 
 293 
 
 few days has generally risen to 37° or 40° in 
 the course of the day. 
 
 March 20th.—Very thick and foggy, with 
 lioht wind from the north-east : two or three 
 vessels near us, but no seals. We breakfasted 
 this morning on the hearts and kidneys of 
 young seals fried :— they were very good, being 
 just like pig’s fry, but rather more tender and 
 delicate. At ten o’clock we pushed into the 
 ice on a north-west course ; presently we heard 
 some young seals “ bawling” a-head, and in a 
 short time we got among them, and most of 
 crew went after them. The captain shot an 
 old hooded seal on the ice, and Stuwitz and I 
 went to cut him up and examine him. He 
 was upwards of six feet long, and four or five 
 in circumference in the thickest part of his 
 body: on his nose and forehead was a great 
 pulpy mass, like a black bag full of fat, over¬ 
 hanging above his eyes. This is the hood 
 which, when angry or excited, can be blown 
 out to a considerable size. He had a cold, 
 malignant-looking eye, and his head altogether 
 looked fierce and outre, something like a hip¬ 
 popotamus or rhinoceros. Stuwitz occupied 
 
294 
 
 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [CHAr. VIII. 
 
 about, an hour in measuring and drawing him, 
 after which we sculped him and cut him up. 
 The flesh was very black, and strong, and 
 muscular, the fibres of the muscles still qui¬ 
 vering when we cut into them, although he 
 had been dead so long. His bones, on the con¬ 
 trary, were very thin and slender for so bulky 
 an animal. We were another hour in dissect¬ 
 ing him, up to our elbows in black blood; and 
 as it froze on our hands and arms we were 
 obliged occasionally to plunge them into his 
 body to thaw and warm them. 
 
 The fat was bet ween two and three inches 
 thick; die skin, when it got dry, was a very 
 beautiful one, being a dark silver-grey, ele¬ 
 gantly spotted with black: this is the' natural 
 colour of all the seal skins, although when 
 brought home the grey is changed to a dirt}’ 
 yellow, being soaked in the hold of the vessel 
 with rancid fat. The fields of ice this morning 
 were thrown into such strong undulations by 
 the swell, that at a distance of fifty or sixty 
 yards a man seemed to be alternately on the top 
 of a sloping bank and in a hollow, by which 
 half his person was hidden from sight. When 
 
CHAr. VIII.] EFFECT OF A SWELL ON THE ICE. ‘295 
 
 walking and looking around, it gave a feeling 
 of insecurity and giddiness, but when standing 
 or kneeling, and looking down, not the smallest 
 degree of motion was perceptible. I tried this 
 two or three times, and after looking steadily 
 down for a short time, was always obliged to 
 raise my eyes to convince myself that the 
 swell still continued. In the afternoon the fog 
 thickened while some of our men were out a 
 long way after seals ; the captain and I ac¬ 
 cordingly amused ourselves with firing a nine- 
 pound carronade that was in the bows of the 
 vessel once or twice every half hour as a signal. 
 On one of these occasions, not having raised the 
 breech enough, we blew away the pSrt which 
 was raised over the muzzle of the gun, and a 
 piece of it flew backwards over my head, with 
 which it very nearly came in contact. Before 
 dark two men came alongside, looking for eight 
 men missing from their vessel, and shortly 
 afterwards two more from another vessel, who 
 had lost their way in the fog. Gradually all 
 our crew found their way back, and the four 
 strangers slept on board of us. Throughout 
 the night we could hear guns and signals of 
 various kinds from different vessels aiound us 
 
296 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 whose men were missing. Beating; the outside 
 of the bulwarks with a rope makes a noise that 
 is heard a long way; clapping two boards 
 together, or striking a frying-pan with a poker, 
 is also a good signal, the sound being more 
 distinct, and the quarter it proceeds from more 
 easily distinguished than the heavy boom of a 
 gun through the fog. 
 
 March 21st. — Thick, foggy, and calm. The 
 four men went off into the fog in search of their 
 respective vessels. We scarcely stirred all dav, 
 and frequently heard guns and signals for lost 
 men, some of whom must have been out on 
 the ice all night. This thick fog is one of the 
 principal causes of danger in a sealing voyage, 
 men having often been lost, being drifted out 
 to sea on the ice, separated perhaps from their 
 vessels by channels suddenly forming, or wan¬ 
 dering quite away in the fog, and perishing 
 miserably of cold and hunger on the surface 
 of a frozen sea. We picked up a few young 
 seals, and as one of them was shedding his 
 white coat, we eased him entirely of it, and 
 disclosed his second coat, a beautifully spotted 
 skin of short smooth hair—grey and black. 
 The weather felt quite warm, the thermometer 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 A “ ROLLING " PAN. 
 
 *297 
 
 being above 40°, and we took off the cabin sky¬ 
 light. Ever since we left St. John’s we have 
 had flies in the cabin, but now the skylight 
 was full of them, buzzing about till they were 
 quite a nuisance: some were even flying about 
 the deck this morning. After dark we heard 
 a great noise, as of breakers ahead, which we 
 supposed was an iceberg, with the sea beating 
 against it, and therefore, for fear of accidents, 
 we moored the vessel fast to a large thick pan 
 of ice alongside, on which were several upright 
 blocks and masses. 
 
 March 2*2nd. — A beautiful morning, with 
 the wind at north-north-west, quite clear. 
 There were many vessels in sight, ten or a 
 dozen of which had flags flying, signals that 
 they had lost men. One small schooner passed 
 close by us with six men short, whom she could 
 not hear of, but hoped they were on board 
 some vessel or other. We discovered the noise 
 we heard last night to proceed from what is 
 called a “ rolling ” pan. This was a small ice¬ 
 berg of very irregular shape, about sixty yards 
 across, and its average height above the water 
 about twenty-five feet. It drifted down upon 
 us by the aid of an under current, as there was 
 
298 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 but little wind, and obliged us to cast off our 
 tow-line and make sail. It was full of hol¬ 
 lows at the top and sides, having a pinnacle 
 at one end thirty-five feet high, with a perpen¬ 
 dicular wall or cliff, and at the other a round 
 hummock; it consisted of white compact and 
 opaque ice, enclosing at one place a large wedge- 
 shaped mass of blue transparent ice. But what 
 made it most remarkable was its swinging to 
 and fro in the water, dipping first on one side 
 and then the other into the sea, and heaving 
 up tons of water as it rose, that, surging into 
 its hollows, fell back down several channels 
 into the sea, producing a noise and motion ex¬ 
 actly like that of breakers. There was but 
 little swell, but what there was sufficed, I sup¬ 
 pose, to keep up the rolling, which had, no 
 doubt, been communicated to it where the 
 swell was greater. It was a singular thing to 
 see this great lump of ice thus navigating on a 
 voyage of its own, and not less interesting to 
 speculate on its origin and history. It had 
 probably been once much larger, and was now 
 consummating its own destruction, not only by 
 journeying to the warmer regions of the south, 
 but by its swinging motion, for the water some- 
 
Chap. VIII.J . 
 
 ICEBERG. 
 
 299 
 
 times washed right across its middle, where it 
 was low, and was thus actually sawing- it in 
 two : its sides too were scratched and scored in 
 all directions, probably from knocking- and 
 rubbing* against other pieces of ice : it was in 
 some parts covered with snow, part of which 
 struck me as being rather discoloured and dirty, 
 but it had no signs of gravel or pebbles. The 
 discolouration might have been caused by the 
 presence of seals, as we had frequently seen 
 large patches of ice dirty and discoloured, 
 in spots where the seals had brought forth 
 their young, which are called by the men 
 “ whelping-grounds.” Sailed slowly during 
 the day, and in the evening sent out a punt or 
 two, which, just before dark, brought in an old 
 hooded seal, two old harp-seals, and several 
 young ones. 
 
 There was a beautiful aurora this evening, 
 exhibiting the usual arch or undulating band of 
 glancing ravs, from the north-east to the north¬ 
 west, passing over both the Bears. The princi¬ 
 pal mass of light w r as in the north-east, and it 
 seemed to travel slowly towards the north-west. 
 To me the rays seemed to glance upwards per¬ 
 pendicularly from the earth, and the arched 
 
300 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 appearance, as well as the radiation from a sup¬ 
 posed centre, was probably due to perspective 
 and to the different angles under which the va¬ 
 rious parts met the eye of the spectator. The 
 light was fainter in the centre, and more full 
 towards each extremity of the arch ; and the 
 arch, instead of being perpendicular to the 
 earth’s surface, like the rainbow, appeared 
 horizontal, or rather as if it were part of a 
 circle parallel to a plane which formed a 
 tangent to a point on the surface of the earth 
 some distance to the north of us. From such 
 a flat, circular, and sinuous band if rays be 
 supposed to glance perpendicularly upwards, 
 while an undulating motion travels aloncr the 
 band itself, the form of the phenomenon will 
 be described as it appeared to me. I do not 
 feel myself competent even to speculate on 
 the cause of the phenomenon ; but it has since 
 struck me that if a tangent plane were to pass 
 through the magnetic pole,* and at some dis¬ 
 tance above this, but parallel to it, there were 
 a wavy or sinuous circular band of light, hav¬ 
 ing a point above the magnetic pole for its 
 
 * Meaning, of course, the one situated just north of 
 America. 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 THE AURORA. 
 
 301 
 
 centre, and a radius of some ten or twenty 
 degrees of latitude or equatorial longitude, 
 with rays glancing upwards from the band 
 parallel to the magnetic axis of the earth, and 
 an undulating motion communicated to the 
 whole, it would produce the appearance most 
 commonly observed by me in the aurora seen 
 in Newfoundland. This appearance, however, 
 was by no means constant, a diffused yellow 
 light being sometimes alone observable. 
 
 March 23 rd.— A furious north and north¬ 
 west wind with driving snow-storms. Sailed 
 under a close-reefed fore-topsail through some 
 open pools of water, and then, being brought 
 up in a compact field of ice, furled all sail and 
 moored to a large pan, where there were some 
 seals about us. The men picked up two or 
 three, but could not go far because of the blind¬ 
 ing snowdrift. The thermometer was down at 
 18 ° in the middle of the day. All hands snug 
 under hatches the whole of the afternoon. 
 
 March 24 th. — Fine morning, clear, but cold, 
 with a light wind from the west-north-west. 
 There were six or eight vessels in sight. The 
 ice was rather loose and interspersed with lolly, 
 and the men were bringing in a few seals, but 
 
302 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 had to go a long way for them. Among them 
 was the pelt of a female hood-seal and two 
 young hoods, one of which had not long been 
 whelped. As we were at dinner to-day we 
 heard an outcry on deck, and on running for¬ 
 ward found a fine young shark lying on a pan 
 of ice alongside the vessel. A pile of seal- 
 pelts had been gradually collected on the pan, 
 which touched the bows of the vessel, and two 
 men w T ere standing on it, helping to hoist 
 them on board, when the shark, attracted, no 
 doubt, by the pleasant savour, poked his nose 
 up over the side of the pan, and the men im¬ 
 mediately hooked him with their gaffs, and 
 dragged him on to the pan without his mak¬ 
 ing any great resistance. He was about ten 
 feet long, and he lay quietly enough, giving 
 merely an occasional lash with his tail, and 
 suffered us to roll him over and haul him 
 about with our gaffs. Stuwitz, of course, did 
 not lose the opportunity of sketching his form, 
 taking his dimensions, and cutting him up. 
 In his stomach we found the hinder part of a 
 young seal, part of a flatfish, and a small fish 
 like a gurnet. His liver was six feet long, and 
 occupied the greater part of his inside. Both 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 A SHARK. 
 
 303 
 
 his eyes were dull and opaque, and very much 
 sunk in his head: they were apparently dis¬ 
 eased, and each had a parasitical animal ad¬ 
 hering to it (a hernaeopod), about an inch 
 and a half long, having two arms springing 
 from its body, that joined to form a small cup- 
 shaped sucker by which they were attached. 
 The structure of the shark’s nose was very cu¬ 
 rious and delicate, having internally a series of 
 rows of filaments on a common base, something 
 like the gill of a fish. The five holes in his 
 neck to admit water to his gills, his elastic jaws 
 containing a fringe of teeth, and his extensive 
 gullet armed with small hooked teeth pointing 
 inwards, were among his best-known charac¬ 
 teristics. His flesh was beautifully white, and 
 the arrangement of its flakes and fibres very 
 curious and beautiful. We had some of it 
 dressed for tea, and found it not badly tasted, 
 but rather tough and dry, something like an 
 old halibut. He scarcely moved while being 
 cut up, but seemed almost as much alive after 
 having his inside cleaned out and being slit 
 open from head to tail, as he was before. 
 About an hour and a half afterwards, on cut¬ 
 ting down through the head into the brain and 
 
304 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 spinal marrow, he gave one or two vigorous 
 lashes with his tail, after which there was no 
 more motion. After taking what parts of it 
 Stuwitz wished to preserve, we left his carcass 
 on the ice, a prey to the seals, if they chose to 
 accept of it. Of these latter we had brought on 
 board to-day 356, making now 4186 as our 
 total number on board. 
 
 March 25th.—Most beautiful morning, with 
 a light breeze from the south-west. We lay 
 nearly all day tightly jammed among strong 
 ice, of which the whole surface, being covered 
 with newly-fallen snow, was most dazzling 
 under the bright sun. Several vessels about us, 
 one of which, a schooner, w'as as full as she could 
 hold, and was accordingly homeward-bound. 
 A number of icebergs were in sight on all sides 
 of us, none of them very near, and none of them 
 in any way remarkable, except for mere pecu¬ 
 liarities of shape or size. One, however, had a 
 dark band, apparently of blue transparent ice, 
 traversing its upper portion, in a nearly hori¬ 
 zontal direction. I certainly do not understand 
 in what way icebergs are formed, or how so 
 a large body of compact solid ice can accumu¬ 
 late. Whenever this blue ice occurs in them, I 
 
Chap. VIII. J 
 
 FORMATION OF ICEBERGS. 
 
 305 
 
 take it to have resulted from a pool of fresh water 
 having formed, either from rain or melted snow, 
 on the surface of the iceberg, and being subse¬ 
 quently frozen, and then buried under other 
 accumulations of white opaque ice. I ques¬ 
 tion very much whether any mass of transpa¬ 
 rent ice is ever formed in sea-water ; and 1 am 
 also inclined to believe that nearly all sea-ice is 
 the result of snow saturated with cold salt-water 
 and then frozen, rather than the actual con¬ 
 gelation of the water of the sea. About noon 
 the sky clouded over, and we had a heavy 
 snow-storm, with a gale from the north-east. 
 
 March 26th. — Fine, but cloudy ; thermome¬ 
 ter at ten a.m. 32°. Made sail to the north¬ 
 east slowly through thick ice. In the after¬ 
 noon there was a silver thaw, that is, rain 
 freezing as it falls, and covering everything 
 with a coating of clear ice. Our masts, yards, 
 and rigging seemed to be cased in glass. A 
 young hood-seal being brought on board, 
 Stuwitz drew, and measured him, but as it 
 got dark, we put his carcass into a punt to dis¬ 
 sect in the morning. 
 
 March 27th. — A gale from the south-west. 
 On coming on deck this morning we could not 
 
306 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 find our seal, and on inquiry discovered that the 
 middle-watch had eaten him during the night. 
 The constant employment of the men on deck, 
 when they had nothing else to do, was boiling, 
 frying, or roasting pieces of seal flesh and 
 eating them. Immediately after a dinner or 
 breakfast down below, they would come on 
 deck and set to work at the seal by way of 
 dessert. Their constant food both at sea or 
 on shore being fish or salt pork, fresh meat is 
 at all times a luxury to them, even though it 
 be that of a seal. It is amusing enough, how¬ 
 ever, that more than one half of the men 
 going to the ice are Irishmen, and strict Ro¬ 
 man Catholics, who would rather undergo any 
 privation than eat meat on their fast-days, 
 which in Newfoundland are Fridays and Sa¬ 
 turdays. I had always found during the 
 previous summer that my men, if there were 
 no fish to be had, would confine themselves 
 to bread and butter and tea on those days, 
 even while undergoing the hardest labour. 
 The good fathers of the church, however, 
 either in pure ignorance of natural history, or 
 by a little pious fraud, willing to indulge their 
 flock during the cold and hardships of a seal- 
 
Chap. VIII.] SEALS DECLARED TO BE FISII. 
 
 307 
 
 ing voyage, have come to a unanimous deter¬ 
 mination that seals are Jish! * I by no means 
 wish to disturb the consciences of any of the 
 men in so very harmless a matter, and hope 
 that seals may still be reckoned to be fish; but 
 I am afraid I rather staggered one man by ask¬ 
 ing him if he ever heard of any fish that had 
 hot blood, and that suckled their young. In 
 the mean time we determined to try what sort 
 of food a young seal was, and ordered one to 
 be cooked for dinner. He was towed through 
 the water great part of the morning, then par¬ 
 boiled, and afterwards cut up and fried with 
 onions. In this way it really was not bad : the 
 flesh was rather dark and strong, but by no 
 means so disagreeable as that of some sea-birds 
 I have eaten. 
 
 There was a fine aurora at night, consisting 
 of a bright undulating band just visible above 
 the horizon, with glancing rays shooting up¬ 
 ward. 
 
 March 28th, 29th, 30th, and 31st.—Nothing 
 remarkable happened during these four days. 
 
 * I have, however, an idea that this determination is not 
 confined to Newfoundland, but that in the old rules of the 
 church, seals, otters, whales, porpoises, and all cetacea and 
 amphibia are classed as fish. 
 
308 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 There was moderate weather the whole time, 
 and one day we took off the skylight to let in 
 some fresh air and let out the flies which an¬ 
 noyed us. We sailed about in various directions 
 among loose ice, picking up a hooded seal or 
 two now and then. Captain Furneaux says 
 he never knew the field-ice so open and thin 
 in this latitude (about 50°) as it was this year. 
 There were very many icebergs about, some of 
 them of large size, but in none could I see any 
 signs of pebbles or boulders. 
 
 I saw one day four men attack a party con¬ 
 sisting of a male and female hooded seal and 
 their young one; they killed the female and 
 the young one, and shot the male or dog-hood 
 in the water, and hauled him on to a pan : when 
 there, however, he recovered strength, twisted 
 the gaffs out of the men’s hands, and, in spite 
 of what all four could do, he got away, and 
 scuffled into the water, where he dived and 
 disappeared. 
 
 The following is a summary of what I learned 
 of the seals in Newfoundland :— 
 
 There are four species known on the coast. 
 1. The bay-seal. 2. The harp-seal. 3. The 
 hooded-seal. 4. The square fipper. 
 
Chap. VIII.] THE NEWFOUNDLAND SEALS. 309 
 
 1. The bay-seal*, as its name denotes, is con¬ 
 fined to the baj-s and inlets, living on the coast 
 all the year round, and frequenting the mouths 
 of the rivers and harbours. It is the smallest 
 of the four, and prettily marked with irregular 
 spots of a small size. From what I heard, I 
 am led to suspect that it breeds in the autumn 
 or fall of the year. It is never found on the 
 ice among the seals we had been pursuing. 
 
 2. The harp-seal f is so named from the old 
 male animal having, in addition to a number 
 of spots, a broad curved line of connected 
 blotches proceeding from each shoulder and 
 meeting on the back above the tail, forming a 
 figure something like an ancient harp or lyre. 
 The female has not this harp, neither has the 
 male till after his second year. The young 
 when born are covered with the white fur al- 
 readv described — they are then called “ white 
 coats: ” at about five or six weeks old they 
 shed this white coat, and a smooth spotted skin 
 appears—they are then called young harps. 
 
 * This I believe to be the common Plioca viiulina of 
 Linnaeus, which is found on our own coast, 
 t This is the Phoca Gramlandica , (Muller,) or Greenland 
 
 seal. 
 
310 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 When twelve months old the males are still 
 scarcely to be distinguished from the females, 
 and during that season they are called “ bedla- 
 mers.” The next season the male has assumed 
 his harp. The harp-seals, as will have been 
 gathered from what precedes, herd together, at 
 least during the breeding season, and probably 
 at other times. They are not seen on the coast 
 of Newfoundland at other times, and probably 
 come from the north to the ice-fields on the 
 northern shores of the island for the purpose 
 of bringing forth their young. The mothers 
 leave their young on the ice, and fish about 
 the neighbourhood for their own subsistence, 
 returning occasionally to give suck. We did 
 not absolutely see one suckling her young 
 one, but we found the milk in the mouths and 
 stomachs of one or two young ones that were 
 brought on board, and it was of a thick creamy 
 consistency and of a yellowish white colour. 
 Meanwhile the males are congregated together 
 in the open pools of water, sporting about. 
 The young ones increase in size very rapidly 
 from their birth, and are fattest at about three 
 weeks old, at which time they are almost half 
 the bulk of the old ones. From that time the 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 HOODED SEAL. 
 
 311 
 
 fat diminishes slightly, although the bulk of 
 the internal body increases. 
 
 3. The hooded-seals * are larger than the 
 harps. Their skin is of a lighter grey colour, 
 with many dark irregularly shaped spots and 
 blotches of considerable size. The male, called 
 a dog-hood, is distinguished from the female by 
 the singular hood or bag of soft flesh on his 
 nose. When attacked or alarmed, they inflate 
 this hood so as to cover the face and eyes, and 
 it resists seal-shot. It is impossible to kill a 
 dog-hood, even with a sealing-gun, when he 
 has either his head or his tail turned towards 
 you; and the only way is by shooting him on 
 the side of the head, and a little behind it, so 
 as to strike him in the neck and the base of the 
 skull. The young of this species are not pro¬ 
 vided with the thick woolly coat of the young 
 harp-seals, or if they are it is shed very shortly 
 after birth. They have whitish bellies and 
 dark grey backs, which when wet have a bluish 
 tinge, whence they are called “ blue-backs.” 
 Those which were brought on board alive 
 seemed much tamer and more gentle than the 
 
 * This species is the Stemmatnpus cristatus of F. Cuvier. 
 (See the article Seal in the ‘ Penny Cyclopedia.’) 
 
312 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 white coats, and when teased did not offer to 
 scratch and bite so much as the others. Their 
 fat is not so thick, and they are consequently 
 of inferior value. The hooded-seals do not form 
 such large herds as the harps, and the male 
 and female seem to keep more together, both 
 being commonly seen near the young one. 
 The hooded-seals generally bring forth their 
 young two or three weeks later than the 
 harps, and they always occupy different dis¬ 
 tricts, the hoods being generally found farthest 
 to the north. In the stomach of the old 
 hooded-seal which we opened we found no¬ 
 thing but portions of squids, and two or three 
 undigested beaks of large cuttle-fish. 
 
 4. The “ square fipper” * is described as 
 being much larger than the hooded-seal. It 
 is, however, very rare; and we did not see one 
 or hear of one being seen this season. 
 
 The morse, or sea-horse, is occasionally met 
 with and killed by the seal-hunters, and not 
 unfrequently a white bear or two. We only 
 
 * I do not know what is the scientific name of this seal, 
 or whether he has been described at all. Captain Fumeaux 
 told us they were sometimes twelve, and, if I recollect 
 rightly, even fifteen feet long. It may possibly be the P/ioca 
 barbata of Muller. 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 THE WHITE BEAR. 
 
 313 
 
 heard of one of the latter being seen this year, 
 and it was fought some time by the men with 
 their gaffs, dodging it from pan to pan, till 
 at last one or two, coming up with their guns, 
 shot him. We did not hear of this, however, 
 till after our return to St. John’s. White and 
 other foxes are also occasionally found on the 
 ice. 
 
 There is no certain rule to be adhered to in 
 searching for the herds of seals, the great secret 
 of success being constant activity and pushing 
 about through the ice till they are met with, 
 making for the strongest and largest fields 
 of ice, and watching the set of the currents, 
 the winds, and other circumstances which are 
 likely to lead to them. 
 
 April 1st.—Thick and foggy, wind south¬ 
 west ; sailing to the south-east through bays 
 of water. Saw a punt’s crew of a schooner 
 near us kill a family of hooded-seals, con¬ 
 sisting of the male, female, and young one. 
 Distinctly observed the male blow up his hood 
 as the men approached. The hooded-seals are 
 more fearless, and show more fight when at¬ 
 tacked, than the harps: they will, however, 
 always get away if they can. The men say 
 
 p 
 
 VOL. i. 
 
314 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 that if they can once kill the female, they are 
 sure of the rest, as the young one does not 
 stir, and the dog will not go far from the 
 spot, but keeps continually popping his head 
 up in the holes and pools about, growling and 
 whining after his mate. 
 
 It was quite a pleasure to have a little clear 
 sailing this morning, after being so long stuck 
 fast in the ice. The thermometer at nine, a.m., 
 showed 35°, and in the middle of the day the 
 fog cleared off, and we had beautiful weather. 
 We moored the vessel to a large pan of ice, 
 and filled all our water-casks from a pool of 
 clear water in its hollows, taking the oppor¬ 
 tunity also of getting a good wash ourselves, 
 a luxury we could not very often enjoy. There 
 were several vessels about us, two of which had 
 not seen a single white-coat this season, so capri¬ 
 ciously scattered are the herds of seals. There 
 was a very singular island of ice a few miles to 
 the south of us. It rose to a height of about 
 one hundred feet, and resembled the worn and 
 ruined cone of a volcano. At about half its 
 height was a platform sloping to the north, 
 and round three of its sides a thin wall of ice 
 rose up sloping inwards, and was pierced 
 
Chat. VIIF.] 
 
 ICE ISLAND. 
 
 315 
 
 towards the south by a great arch somewhat 
 resembling a Gothic window. The sloping plat¬ 
 form was strewed with blocks of ice, fragments, 
 probably, of its surrounding walls. As it was 
 in the direction in which we intended or ex¬ 
 pected to proceed, we hoped to get a nearer 
 view of it. The crew amused themselves this 
 afternoon with jumping-matches on the snow, 
 and dancing reels on the ice, to which I added 
 darting at a mark with the gaffs, till the cap¬ 
 tain put a stop to that part of it by begging 
 us not to spoil any more of his gaffs. By an 
 amplitude observed at sunset this evening with 
 my prismatic compass, I found the variation 
 to be as nearly 38° as possible. The sunset 
 was clear and beautiful, lighting up the ice¬ 
 bergs with hues of liquid gold and rose colour ; 
 and at night the aurora was very fine, having, 
 in addition to the appearance I have already 
 described, a diffused yellow light over the 
 whole heavens, except the south. On looking 
 at the zenith there appeared to be a slight radia¬ 
 tion from, or rather an apparent convergence 
 to it, produced by perspective. 
 
 April 2nd.—A most lovely morning, with a 
 light breeze from the west. Unmoored and 
 
 p 2 
 
316 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 made sail slowly through the ice to the south, 
 with the temperature at 33°, at 10 a.m. The 
 arched iceberg is now south-west of us, and 
 we can see its other side; the arch now ap¬ 
 peared to be round below as well as above, and 
 below it there floated a larger piece with a 
 projecting pinnacle, that may probably have 
 been detached from some part of the iceberg. 
 It was still three miles from us, and the ice 
 intersected with many small channels and 
 lakes of water, rendering an attempt to reach 
 it on foot highly dangerous, as the ice fre¬ 
 quently separates and breaks up without warn¬ 
 ing given, and even a narrow channel might 
 cut us off from the vessel. Taking a punt 
 would be hazardous, for the opposite reason, 
 as the ice might close in and oblige us to 
 abandon it. The latter predicament was one 
 in which a punt’s crew and myself were 
 nearly caught this afternoon. We had gone 
 out where the ice was much divided into 
 channels and pools of water, but it gradually 
 closed in upon us, and we had much difficulty 
 in forcing our way back to the vessel, being 
 obliged to get out on opposite sides of the 
 boat and force the pans asunder with our gaffs 
 
Chap. VIII.] CATCHING A VOUNG HARP-SEAL. 317 
 
 to make a passage for her. We brought a 
 young harp on board alive, with its new coat 
 on. Tying a line round one of its hinder 
 Uppers, we let it swim about near the vessel, 
 which it did' with great grace and agility, 
 diving and rising again to the surface, and 
 occasionally crawling out on a pan of ice. The 
 beautiful clearness of the water enabled us to 
 watch all its motions. It swam like a fish, 
 principally by the motion of its body, closing 
 and spreading out its hinder Uppers into the 
 exact form of the tail of a fish. Nestor 
 jumped over into the water and swam up to 
 it; but when the seal saw him approach it 
 raised itself upright in the water, and when 
 within reach attacked him tooth and nail, 
 biting him severely in the lip, and making 
 master Nestor turn tail immediately. Their 
 heads and bodies are so round and smooth, 
 that a dog cannot seize them anywhere except 
 in the Uppers. 
 
 April 3rd and 4th.—Continued our route 
 to the southward slowly, the ice becoming 
 more open and broken. Many icebergs were 
 still in sight, and several vessels bound home¬ 
 ward like ourselves. In the afternoon of the 
 
318 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 4th a thrush (turdus migratorius), very com¬ 
 mon in Newfoundland in the summer, and 
 called there a blackbird, though it has a brown 
 body and a red breast like a robin, flew several 
 times about the vessel, hopping about and ap¬ 
 pearing lively and in good condition. The 
 men said they had sometimes seen them in 
 flocks on the ice in the beginning of April, 
 and that two or three would often come on 
 board and stay with them till they neared the 
 land, picking up the crumbs and making 
 themselves quite at home. This evening the 
 lakes of water became wider, and as we sailed 
 to the southward the swell gradually increased, 
 till during the night I was awakened by the 
 vessel rocking as if in the open sea. 
 
 April oth.—A very heavy gale blowing from 
 south-west. We hove the vessel to, under the 
 lee of a thin skirt of ice, and I witnessed the 
 sea in the grandest aspect I think I ever saw 
 it. There was no ice to windward of us but 
 this thin skirt about a mile broad, which was 
 marked into small round pieces about a foot 
 wide, forming a perfect mosaic pavement on a 
 gigantic scale. This was sufficient to prevent 
 the formation of the numberless flickering waves 
 
Chap. VIII.] 
 
 THE ICE IN A SWELL. 
 
 319 
 
 and crests of foam and spray into which the 
 surface of the sea is lashed by a gale of wind, 
 but it offered no impediment to the swell. The 
 unbroken swell of the Atlantic ocean accord¬ 
 ingly rolled in upon us in huge continuous 
 ridges, heaving the pavement of iceon its mighty 
 folds, and alternately lifting us on its broad 
 domes and swallowing us in its deep hollows. 
 The absence of all minor waves made the pri¬ 
 mary undulations to be felt in their true mag¬ 
 nitude, and it was certainly a magnificent sight. 
 Grand as was the sight, however, I would in a 
 short time have gladly exchanged it for a station 
 on the solid ice again, as both Stuwitz and I 
 began to be sea-sick. More than half the creAv, 
 I found, followed our example, and for the next 
 day or two barely enough of the watch were 
 left on deck to manage the vessel. 
 
 April 6th.—When the wind moderated a little, 
 we made sail to the south, and in a short time 
 left all the ice behind us. At noon we were in 
 lat. 50° 4T, supposed longitude 50°, with the 
 wind at west-south-west, apparently mode¬ 
 rating. 
 
 April 7th to 11th.—One continued gale from 
 south-west to north-west, with very heavy sea 
 
320 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 running; top-gallant yards sent down on deck, 
 and with close-reefed fore and mainsails, &c. try¬ 
 ing to make what head we could by beating up 
 to the westward, but the wind constantly turn¬ 
 ing against us on both tacks. By soundings, we 
 found ourselves to be on the banks, and sup¬ 
 posed we were on the inner or western edge of 
 them. We accordingly ran down as far as lat. 
 47°, and then tacked at 47° and 49° alternately, 
 St. John’s being in 47° 33', and the current 
 supposed to set to the southward. Meanwhile, 
 our seals began to run, the pumps brought up 
 morning and evening a lot of thick white stuff 
 like syllabub or soap-suds, the mixture of the 
 seal-oil and salt bilge-water, being agitated in 
 the pump. The ship accordingly was perceived 
 to stink most awfully, and everything on board, 
 including the bulk-heads of the cabin, began to 
 sweat with grease. Our clothes, also, became 
 smooth and polished, especially where there 
 was any pressure. Our fresh stores had long 
 been exhausted, as also our wine and spirits, 
 and we were now reduced to tea and the com¬ 
 mon rum, and had not much of that left. At 
 last, in the afternoon of the 11th, the wind 
 moderated and shifted into the north, the sea 
 
Chap. VIII.] ARRIVAL IN NEWFOUNDLAND. 321 
 
 went down, and we got a fair run to the west¬ 
 ward, and at sunset some of the men thought 
 they could see Cape St. Francis in a bank of 
 fog to the northward, when it fell nearly calm. 
 
 April 12th.—About three o’clock this morn¬ 
 ing we were awakened by the happy intelligence 
 that the lighthouse of Cape Spear was in sight, 
 and coming on deck at daylight, we had the 
 pleasure of seeing the bold and barren coast 
 of Cape Spear and its neighbourhood about 
 fifteen miles from us. The snow had all disap¬ 
 peared, except in the hollows and crevices of 
 the cliffs. About eight o’clock a light breeze 
 sprung up from the south-west, that just suf¬ 
 ficed to carry us into the narrows before noon. 
 We found the harbour full of vessels, and the 
 first boat that boarded us brought us the in¬ 
 telligence that many vessels had come in with 
 five, six, and even seven thousand seals on 
 board; that some had sailed a fortnight ago on 
 their second trip ; and that seals were in con¬ 
 sequence down as low as 15s. the cwt. T his 
 lengthened the visages of our crew perceptibly, 
 they having expected 18s. a cwt. Stuwitz 
 and I were, however, too busy in landing and 
 getting away to our lodgings to trouble our- 
 
322 EXCURSIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 selves about matters that did not concern us; 
 and when there, we bathed first in hot water 
 and then in eau de Cologne, ordering all our 
 clothes to be hung out of doors, as we observed 
 that the acquaintances whom we met as we 
 passed through the streets studiously got on the 
 windward side of us; and I have no doubt had 
 we been turned out to be hunted, we should 
 have left a “ burning scent ” behind us. Upon 
 the whole, we were highly pleased with our 
 expedition to the ice, which we could not have 
 seen under more favourable circumstances. It 
 was a very good season : one vessel in two trips 
 brought in eleven thousand seals ; and the total 
 take this year must have been considerably 
 upwards of five hundred thousand. 
 
 END OF VOLUME I. 
 
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 London : Printed by William Ci owbs and Sons, Stamford Street. 
 
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