^326 Perley^s observations on the 



ground cos'ered by fresh water is fully one third of the island, 

 and in this estimate I quite concur, believing it, if any thing, rather 

 below the mark. 



Taken in connection with this remarkable abundance of lakes 

 and ponds, the scarcity of navigable rivers is almost anomalous. 

 The broken and undulating character of the country with its 

 craggy hills and deep ravines, is doubtless one cause of the ab- 

 sence of large rivers; while small rocky rattling streams are 

 found in countless profusion. 



Each lake, or small set of ponds, communicates with the sea by 

 a valley of its own, of greater or less extent. Down this valley 

 they send their superfluous waters, in what may be considered a 

 mere brook. The general scantiness of these brooks, and the 

 vast abundance of the ponds, are accounted for by the small- 

 ness of each system of drainage and the vast coating of moss found 

 all over the country. 



Upon every great accession of moisture, either from rain or 

 melted snow, the chief portion is absorbed by this huge sponge ; 

 the residue fills the numerous ponds to the brink, and these dis- 

 charge themselves gradually by the brooks. 



Great periodical floods which would sweep out and deepen the 

 channels of the rivers, are quite impossible, from the almost infi- 

 nite number of small streams falling singly into the sea. These 

 streams have not the power, at any time, of breaking down or 

 overcoming the barriers which separate them, and so uniting their 

 waters. 



In dry weather, when the ponds begin to shrink, they are sup- 

 plied by the slow and gradual drainage of the marshes, where 

 the water has been kept as in a reservoir, to be given ofl" when 

 required. In this way, many ponds that have no great depth, 

 and would otherwise be exhausted, are kept full of water in the 

 driest seasons, and it is only in the greatest and most long con- 

 tinued droughts, when the marshes themselves begin to dry up, 

 that the ponds are found to shrink much below their usual level. 



CLIMATE. 



As there are nearly five degrees of latitude between the south- 

 ern and northern extremities of Newfoundland, there is of course 

 a considerable diff"erence in the severity and duration of winter. 

 The climate of Conception Bay, which is in the south coast, and 

 to the eastward of St. John's, the capital of the colony, is consi- 



