Geology of Nevfoundland, 325 



tricts occupying the summits of the hills and ridges, and other 

 elevated and exposed positions. They are covered partially with 

 a thin, scrubby vegetation, consisting of berry-bearing plants and 

 dwarf bushes. 



Bare patches of gravel and boulders, and crumbling fragments 

 of rock, are frequently met with in the barrens, and generally 

 they are altogether destitute of vegetable soil. 



It is only by means of these barrens, these stony sterile 

 tracts, that any large portion of the interior of Newfoundland can 

 be visited or explored. Though frequently broken, rugged, and 

 precipitous, they are delightful to tread upon after traversing the 

 heavy marshes or toiling through the tangled and annoying 

 woods. 



Sometimes, in the hollows of the barrens, and in other places, 

 where the disintegration of the rocks has created a little soil, a 

 bed of dwarf hackmatack or larch is met with. These stunted 

 trees are called in Newfoundland " tucking bushes ;" they grow 

 about breast-high, with strong branches at right angles to the 

 stem, all stiffly interlaced, the tops being as flat and level as if 

 they had been hewn off. These '* tucking bushes " are so stiff 

 that in some places one can almost walk upon them ; but as this 

 is not quite possible, the labour of pushing and thrusting through 

 them can scarcely be conceived by those who have not made the 

 attempt. 



These different tracts, " woods, marshes, and barrens," are 

 none of them of any great extent at any particular place ; but 

 they are continually alternating with each other in the course of 

 a day's journey. 



The most remarkable feature of Newfoundland is the immense 

 and scarcely to be credited abundance of lakes of all sizes, all of 

 which are called indiscriminately " ponds." 



These are found universally over the whole country, not only 

 on the valleys but on the highest lands, even on the hollows of 

 the summits of the ridges, and on the very tops of the highest 

 hills. 



These ponds vary in size from pools of 50 yards in diame- 

 ter to lakes upwards of 30 miles long, and 4 or 5 miles in width* 

 The number of ponds which exceed a couple of miles in ex- 

 tent, must on the whole amount to several hundreds ; those of 

 smaller size are absolutely countless. 



It has been estimated, that in Newfoundland the quantity of 



