148 



A glimpse of Newfoundland. 



CHAPTER VI. 



NEWFOUNDLAND: THE COUNTRY AND ITS HISTORY. 



As the home of its own species of Caribou, Newfound- 

 land itself may have some claim to the reader's attention, 

 and so a chapter on the island, its history, its development 

 and appearance will perhaps prove of interest, even though 

 it has but an indirect bearing on the romance of the 

 Caribou. 



First of all, let us see how Newfoundland is placed 

 geographically. There seems to be a prevailing idea that 

 it is situated somewhere in the Arctic regions, not far 

 from the North Pole, whereas it is approximately between 

 46 and 51 degrees north latitude — St. John's, the capital, 

 being on the same parallel as Paris ; this will give a 

 clear idea of the island's northerly position. It lies at the 

 entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and is separated 

 from the coast of Labrador by the Straits of Belle Isle, 

 which are scarcely ten miles in width at the narrowest 



