36 CLIMATE. 



VERDICT OF GEOLOGY. 



The verdict of geology then is that Newfoundland is a country 

 adapted to sustain a large population engaged in a great variety of 

 pursuits— farming, lumbering, shipbuilding, mining and manu- 

 facturing. Wlien to this we add the fish-wealth of the surround- 

 ing seas, on which the present population of 200,000 are mainly 

 dependent, we must form a high estimate of the natural capabili- 

 ties ot an island which lias been so long unknown or rather 

 mis-known. For the development of those yet dormant resources 

 there is a robust race of people who have served a rough appi'en- 

 tieeship of toil and danger amid the billows- -men of bone and 

 muscle, whose lives are mainly passed in the ojien air in a Avhole- 

 some bracing climate, and whose habits of life are sinijde. They 

 need but some Moses to lead them, not out or, Init into the 

 wilderness to fell the giants of the forest, to drain the marsh 

 and swamp, to drag up the treasures of the mine and to make 

 the valleys wa\"e witli a golden harvest. 



CLIMATE. 



Erroneous ideas regarding the climate of Newfoundland are 

 quite as prevalent as the delusions in reference to its soil and 

 natural products. The bulk of outsiders still fancy that the 

 island is enveloped in almost i^erpetual fogs in summer, and 

 given over to intense cold and a succession of snow storms in 

 winter. It is true that it partakes of the general character of 

 the North American climate, and is therefore much colder than 

 lands in the same latitude in the Old World. Its latitude cor- 

 responds to that of France, but its climate is very different. 

 Still in the American sense of the word, it is liy no means a cold 

 country. Winter sets in, as a rule, in the beginning of December 

 and lasts till the end of Marcli or tlie middle ef April. During 

 this time a snow-mantle of greater or less depth, usually coveis 

 the ground, but the frost is occasionally broken by southerly 

 winds and bright wai-m days, and much of the snow is melted. 

 Then the wind changes, and fre.-h falls df snow are experienced. 

 During the winter there are at tinuv; heavy gales of wind, and 

 severe suow-stoinis. These, howevei', do not cjccur often nr last 



