242 SADDLE ISLAND. 



narrow, and scarcely perceived until you are close to the west of 

 it. The island appears like a part of the mainland. It is probably 

 one of the most secluded harbors of the coast. Our surprise can be 

 imagined. We had supposed ourselves at least twenty if not thirty 

 miles farther up the coast, when we had taken our first reckoning. 

 When close upon Saddle Island the opening begins first to appear. 

 The water is deep in the passage — as everywhere in the harbor — 

 close to the very edges of the land on either side, and though the 

 passage was small we beat in without the slightest difficulty, run- 

 ning so near the rocks that our boom nearly touched the rocky 

 ledge ashore as we tacked ship. Here we entered a new region : 

 I wish I could picture it to you. The air was clear, fresh, and 

 crisp. The sky was almost cloudless. The hills presented most 

 charming natural pictures with their coverings of already green foli- 

 age. Close to the edge of the water nestled the houses with the 

 stages and workshops of some twenty-five or thirty families. 



When once in the harbor we were shut in completely. The high 

 top of the crests on Saddle Island prevented even our mast from being 

 seen, while we were easily led to imagine ourselves in one of those 

 strongholds of ancient piratical romance, — always so well chosen 

 and impregnable. In the evening we went ashore and heard a 

 good, earnest Christian, of the Wesleyan faith, lead a good old New 

 England service of evening prayer. We afterwards occupied some 

 time in calling upon various people dwelling here, and found them 

 very hospitable. 



Red Bay is the Newfoundland headquarters, for this part of the 

 coast, of trade and of the traders. It is a very old settlement, and 

 contains several very aged native inhabitants. Though there are 

 one or two large fisheries here in summer, there are twenty-one 

 families only that winter and live here the year around. A. M. 

 Pike, one of the oldest inhabitants, told me that he had lived on 

 the coast for thirty-two years, and that the place was never larger — 

 except during a little while in the summer — than at present. Of 

 the twenty-one families, seven are named Pike, three Pennie, and 

 three Ash. One old gentleman showed me a sample of lead ore 



