i 4 8 OLD WHALING DAYS. 



and hospitable. I shall always think of them with 

 pleasure. Their treatment was so different to what had 

 been represented to us. Their kindness was the more 

 emarkable as our steamers were likely to supersede their 

 sailing vessels in sealing. A few years after this the Dundee 

 fleet of steam whalers made successful voyages to New- 

 foundland. 



At last the ice slacked. We weighed anchor and steamed 

 towards St. John's. Night overtook us before we reached 

 that place, and the ice being closely packed outside the 

 Narrows, we struck a heavy piece with the propeller, which 

 broke off the iron blade and crippled us again. However 

 we managed to get safely brought up in the harbour. 



The following morning we got under weigh, and moored 

 alongside the depot, on the south side, and commenced 

 coaling. We sent our broken propellers on shore to be 

 fitted with blades similar to the one we made in Bay Bulls. 



We were detained here four weeks, sometimes laid in the 

 stream and sometimes at the Galway Wharf. The harbour 

 of St. John's is land-locked, and well protected, and it can 

 accommodate a large fleet of shipping. The entrance is 

 called the Narrows, and is a miniature Gibraltar with its 

 fortifications. The island is 420 miles long, and 300 broad, 

 but the interior has not been explored. It is said that 

 so far as is known it is very fertile, and abounds in deer, 

 bears, wolves, etc., also some large and magnificent lakes 

 abounding with salmon. 



When we were staying in Bay Bulls we only went about 

 three miles inland, and saw plenty of small spruce fir- 

 trees. We cut down some of the largest for boat hooks, etc. 

 Several schooners carne into the harbour of St. John's with 

 seals, but none had great catches. They had got them 

 during the time they were beset south of White Bay, and 

 reported that thousands of young seals were killed by the 

 ice running over them when it pressed on the land. It 



