COUNTRY AND HISTORY 157 



almost unknown.^ When one hears the favourite story 

 of the depth of snow in Newfoundland, which is, that 

 the telegraph poles were entirely submerged, it must not 

 be imagined that this is a normal happening, or that the 

 whole island was thus covered ; and two important points 

 must be borne in mind : first, that the poles used are very 

 short — I should say about twelve feet above ground ; and 

 second, that this only occurred in a place which is famous 

 for extraordinary deep drifts. As it is a story which every 

 stranger hears, I mention it with these explanations. 



The animal life on the island, with the exception of the 

 Caribou, is neither numerous nor are many species of the 

 larger kinds found. Bears, never an abundant animal, 

 exist in fair numbers. The popular idea of there being 

 two species, known as the black and the brown, is, I 

 think, wrong. They are probably colour phases of the 

 same animal, which is the ordinary black bear. Lynx are 

 scarce, and are said to have only comparatively recently 

 come over on the ice from Labrador, as they were not 

 recorded by the earlier writers. Captain Hardy, in 1869, 

 says : " The presence of the wild cat is uncertain " ; by 

 wild cat it is presumed he alludes to the lynx. Wolves, 

 which may formerly have been fairly numerous, are now 

 practically extinct. Foxes are found in most parts of the 

 island, and are becoming famous for the large proportion 

 that run to the silver phase. I am told that about one 

 in every five or six is either silver (or black as they are 

 also called) or partly so. These dark foxes are, of course, 

 very valuable, and every trapper's ambition is to get a 

 really good one which would make him a rich man. 



^ The mean temperatures for St. John's are given as 21 '09 for January 

 and 56-51 for July. 



