DIRECTIONS FOR TOURISTS. 257 



fax with a squadron to drive theiu out. Colonel Amlierst landed 

 a force from the ileet at Torliay, and marched overland to Saint 

 John's. Up the rugged heights from Quidi Vidi the English 

 soldiers charged to capture Signal Hill, the key of the position. 

 The French fought desperately, and having a great advantage 

 from their position, succeeded several times in repulsing their 

 foes. At length Captain ]\IacI)onald, leading a company of 

 Higidanders with Hxed hayonet^, daslied up the height and 

 swept all T)efore them. Tlie hrave leader and his lieutenant 

 were both severely, hut not mortally wounded. Signal Hill 

 being won, the French saw that all was lost. Their fleet man- 

 aged to escape by creeping out of the harbour in a thick fog. 

 The English lost twenty men; the French loss was heavy, but 

 the number is unknown. St. John's never again fell into the 

 hands of the French. 



GEOLOGY OF THE HII,I>. 



Looking around tlie summit of the liill it is seen to be capped 

 liy dark red sandstone lielonging to tlie Huronian system of 

 rocks, corresponding to the English Cambrian which is developed 

 .all over the peninsula of Avalon. The hill itself is strewed with 

 lai'ge boulders liolding jasper and other water-worn pebl)les, 

 showing tliat they once formed the margin of an old Silurian 

 sea, and tliat by foldings and various earth-movements, the sea- 

 bottom has become a liill of Tn'O feet al)Ove the level of the water, 

 Hei-e too are seen striations on tlie rock-surfaces, showing that at 

 .a later period they were under glacial action. Goologists tell us 

 tliat the whole island was once, during long ages, in the same 

 condition in which Greenland now is — under a great ice-cap 

 many hundreds of feet in thickness. Most travellers allo\y that 

 the view from Signal Hill is rarely surpassed elsewhere. 

 OUIDI VIDI. 



A second interesting walk is to the picturesque fishing village 

 £)f Quidi Vidi, half a mile from the city. The road to it leads 

 past the Penitentiary and Hosj)ital, along the margin of the 

 pretty little Quidi Lake, on which an annual regatta is held. 



