194 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE rEOI'LE. 



for tlu'V are derived entirely from the Saxon and Celtic races;/ 

 ]Moreover, the blood, in this isolated region, has been kept pure 

 from any undesirable intermixtuies ; and, so far, this filended 

 race has been developed under favourable circumstances. The 

 intei-mingling of Saxon strength, energy, endurance arid capacity 

 for " toiling terribly," with Celtic swiftness, brilliancy, imagina- 

 tiveness and emotional activity, ought to produce a superior race, 

 having the best ipialities of the .-locks fiom which they oiiginated, 



SAXOX A]NI> CJKLTIC ELEMENTS. 



Newfoundland enjoys the distinction of being Great Britain's 

 oldest Colony. This was the tirst i)ortiou of the western world 

 on which the Saxon set his foot. It '\\as here that the nation 

 which was destined to discover the Xorth-West Passage and the 

 .sources of the Nile, and to plant American, Indian and Austra- 

 lian Empires tirst raised its Hag in the west and tried its tirst 

 exijeriment in colonization. And the lir.-t colonists who settled 

 here were not men who were forced to "leave their country for' 

 their country's good." Some of them were men born in the 

 "Spacious times of great Elizabeth" — men l)rave, enterprising, 

 true sea-kings who could fearlessly " lay their hands on ocean's 

 mane." Many of them were Devonshire men — the country that 

 produced Sir Walter Raleigh and his half-brother Sir Humphrey 

 Gilbert, and Drake and Hawkins, and many another old English 

 woi'th)'. To these were added, at a later date, some of Ireland's- 

 best blood ; for the men ^\•ho Mere l)rought liere by Sir George 

 Calvert, Viscount Falkland and Sir David Kirke from Ireland, 

 were of the right stamp for colonists ; while tiie Irish emigrants 

 ■who arrived at a later date Avere those wlio sought new homes- 

 beyond the Atlantic, in order to escape from persecution and 

 evil days in their native land. TIius, on the soil of Newfound- 

 land, the tough enduring Saxon and the nidri' lively, versatile 

 Celt have met, in ])roportions not far from equal ; and from tliis 

 wholesome amalgamation of races have sprung the stalwart men 

 and comely matrons and maids whom the travellei' of to-day 

 looks on with admiration. Tlie race has taken kiudlv to the 



