DIRECTIONS FOR TOURISTS. 267 



same amount returning. Tlie Virginia Lake, of the Coastal 

 Steamship Co., leaves St. John's fortnightly, during the .summer 

 and autumn montlis, for Battle Harliour, Laljrador, calling at 

 intermediate ports to land and receive mails and passengers. In 

 .some respects the trip i.s even more enjoyable than that pre- 

 viou.sly described. The .sea-beeeze.s are more Ijiacing ; the at- 

 mo.sphere clear from the entiie aUsence of fog. The bright .sun- 

 Bhine, the impressive coast scenery, the frequent stoppages at the 

 various harbours breaking the monotony of the voyage, and 

 affording glimpses of the people and tlifir ways of living ; the 

 great bays across which the steamer ])loughs her way — all com- 

 bine to render the excursion stimulating and pleasant. Tlien 

 should the trip include the Labrador coast, a strange wild land 

 is reached, and a new expei'ience is gained amid its icebergs and 

 towering cliffs, its hardy fisher-folk gathering in the sea liarvest 

 and battling with the billows. There is something entirely oiit 

 of the ordinary track of travellers in such an excursion. All is- 

 fresh, awakening, " bracing Ijrain and sinew." 



ST. JOHN'S TO TKINITY— HATTON'S "UNDER THE 

 GREAT .SEAL." 



After clearing St. John'^ Narrows the Vinjinia Lair. j)asses 

 Toibay Head, Cape St. Francis with its restless waves Ijreaking 

 iipon the "Brandies," as the outlying rocks are called ; the mouth 

 of Conception Bay ; the grim cliffs of Baccalieu Island, the resort 

 of iny)'iads of sea-fowl ; and Grate's Point. It then enters the 

 noble Ijay of Trinity, seventy miles in length ; and after touch- 

 ing at Old Perlican on the southern shoi-e (forty-seven miles 

 from St. John's) it crosses to Trinity (sixty-eight miles) one of 

 the finest and most beautiful harbours in the Moild. Round the 

 shores of Trinity Bay more than 18,000 people are clustered, 

 nearly all engaged in the fisheries ; many of them spend the 

 summer on Labradoi'. At the head of this bay, the first Atlantic 

 Cable was landed in 18.58 ; and tlie caliles, now in ojieiation^ 

 emerge from the ocean at Heart's Content, on its southern shore^ 

 after traversing the great submarine plain of 1,600 miles Ijetween 

 Newfoundland and the coast of Ireland. A few miles farther 



