CHAPTER IX. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PEOPLE— THE CLASSES 

 AND THE MASSES. 



MERCHANTS AND THE SUPPLYING SYSTEM. 



We come now to glance at the characteristics and general 

 (^nalities and endowments of the people who have to fight life's 

 lialtle on this sea-girt isle, and l>y whom its destinies must be 

 largely determined. 



IMPORTANCE OF RACE. 



There is a great deal in race. Climate, modes of life, general 

 environments, may do much to modify racial characteristics and 

 tendencies, but can never wholly efface them, That a peojjle or 

 an individual should be descended from a sound, good stock, is 

 a matter of vast importance. "Blood" must ever count for 

 much. The people who are doing the A\ork of to-day are the 

 epitome of their respective long lines of ancestry— the summing 

 up of whole generations whose labours and moral and intellec- 

 tual attainments have culminated in tliemselves and made them 

 what they are. "Can tlie Ethi()])ian change his skin or the leo- 

 IDard his spots ?" "We can no moie throw aside our race pecu- 

 liarities and characteristics than we can get clear of our own 

 shadows. The ci-ossing and intermingling of races may go a 

 certain length in effecting changes in the resulting progeny ; but 

 the "Ethiopian" cuticle is ineffaceable and will re-appear in 

 spite of all superficial varnishings. Ancestry is an important 

 factor in shaping the destinies of a peoid:\ 

 A GOOD STCCK. 



Xow the two hundred tliousand people who at present consti- 

 tute the whole population of Newfoundland — an island much 

 larger than Ireland — are come of a good stock, or rather stocks, 



