58 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Mai'ch 



the point I found the Alpine Bistort in flower (^Polygonum vivi- 

 paru7n), the Arrowgrass {Triglochin maritimum), and Mountain 

 Fly-honeysuckle (^Lonicera cceruled). At West Bay, a little 

 farther down the east side of this long point, the shallows are 

 studded with the Fall Bulrush (^Scirpus lacustris), and near the 

 shore the common Soft Bush (Juncus effusiis) grew in clumps in 

 the mud. On the banks the Hedge Bindweed {Calystegia 

 sepium) drew its trailing stems over the hushes, and from the 

 rocks the common Bladder. Fern (^Cystopteris fi'agilis) spread its 

 fragile and varying fronds. 



We next sailed north to the Bay of Islands, which is a long 

 narrow inlet divided into two arms, a short distance from the sea, 

 and, as its name indicates, it contains a number of small rocky 

 islands. At its mouth is a round granite island, whose steep 

 sides dip perpendicularly into the deep channel on either side, 

 through which the tide rushes with considerable rapidity as it 

 rises and falls. On the south side of the entrance are several 

 very high mountains, whose sides are nearly perpendicular, and 

 form a bare wall, against which the waves perpetually lash, and 

 against which we were almost wrecked on entering the bay, owing 

 to the rapid flow of the tide and the strong shifting gusts of wind 

 which blew around the crags, and to which I have no doubt 

 these peaks owe the not very euphonious but expressive name of 

 the Blow-me-down Mountains. As the early French navigators 

 sailed along these newly discovered shores, they generally called 

 the various points of interest after the name of the saint on whose 

 day they arrived at the place, while the English names have too 

 often been repetitions of those of some European place, or have 

 been suggested by some passing fancy of the sailor. A few miles up 

 the Bay of Islands I found the common bitter Cress (Cardamine 

 hirsuta), and the Marginal fruiting Shield-Fern (Aspidium 

 marginale), growing at the foot of a slaty clifl". 



The Humber River enters at the head of the south arm of the 

 Bay of Islands. This noble river is the outlet of Grand Pond, 

 and with its tributaries winds through a large portion of New- 

 foundland. It is, or could easily be, made navigable up to the 

 main fork, a distance of about forty miles, for flat-bottomed steam- 

 boats like those used on the Ohio. Along the river flats, in the 

 valleys and on the '^ barren," when these are drained and the 

 country is a little more cleared, there will be room for thousands of 

 farms, and the hills will afford walks for immense flocks of sheep 



