Neighbourhood of St. John's, Newfuundland. 207 



far out at sea, the sea deepening so rapidly beyond the Bank. 

 Is it not probable that a large tract of dry land had iormeily 

 existed where the Bank is now found? The rocks which 

 formed this land may have been composed of very soft mate- 

 rials, and the occurrence of flint and green sand over the bank 

 seems to indicate that the greater part of the original rocks 

 had been of the chalk and green sand formations. A countiy 

 composed of these rocks, which are of the latest formation, 

 must have been very low, and in consequence much exposed to 

 the action of the sea. By degrees the whole may have been in- 

 undated and entirely swept away, leaving the harder debris, 

 the flint and green sand, to form the gravel at the bottom. 



The coast round St. John's is bleak, bare, and rocky, and 

 ahiiost every where precipitous. On both sides of St. John's 

 harbour, peipendicular cliff's of trap-tuff rise to the height of 

 tliree or four hundred feet. The interior of the country is 

 hilh', but does not rise to a great elevation, few of the hills 

 being more than five or six lumdred feet above the level of 

 the sea. They are generally round-backed, and frequently 

 wooded to the top. The whole uninhabited part of the 

 country is one immense forest, consisting chiefly of fir and 

 bircli. No extensive valleys or plains occur, but hill succeeds 

 hill in almost unvarying succession. The physiognomy of the 

 country is an elegant outline of hill and dale : the scenery, 

 however, wants variety. Lakes are numerous over the whole 

 island, as far as it is knowii, and many of them, near the coast, 

 are large and beautiful. They occur even on the tops of the 

 hills, and are said to be often of great depth. The soil is in 

 general light. Oats and barley thrive ; and potatoes, turnips, 

 and other kitchen vegetables, grow fidly as well as in En- 

 gland. Summer weather, in Newfoundland, is short, but warm, 

 and very favourable to vegetation. The winter is uncommonly 

 severe, the spring and autumn veiy changeable. There is 

 good pasture for cattle in ground that is cleared. 



The passage into St. John's harbour, which in shape very 

 much resembles a man's foot, is by a narrow entrance, called 

 The Narrows, which extends nearly east and west about half 

 a mile. Both sides of this entrance are high, abru})t, and 

 rocky. The rocks are the same on each side, being continued 

 across from the one to the other. I thmk there is little doubt 

 that the opposite sides of the Narrows had once been joined. A 

 rapid river runs into the harbour. The harbour itseltj pre- 

 viously to the formation of the Narrows, may have been a lake. 

 The river appears to have been once nuith larger. By the 

 action of the sea without, and of the river and lake within, the 



rent 



