564 THE BANKS OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 



sible cliffs. Admiral Bayfield, compiler of the Admiralty 

 Sailing Directions for ships entering the St. Lawrence, 

 assures us that even still 



" every ledge and fissure of the cliffs is occupied by gannets, 

 and the summit of both rocks is literally covered with them. 

 The white plumage of these birds gives these rocks the appear- 

 ance of being capped with snow, and renders them visible 

 through a night glass, in a clear and moonlight night, for 

 the distance of 7 or 8 miles." * 



After passing these islands we at length reach the 

 open sea and glide over the actual borders of that great 

 ocean which for so many ages baffled the efforts of 

 the ancient mariners in their attempts to traverse its 

 liquid expanse, at that time supposed to extend in 

 illimitable magnitude towards the setting sun. Leaving 

 Newfoundland to the northwards, the passenger sails 

 across the great banks of Newfoundland, celebrated 

 for their cod fisheries, concerning which we hope 

 in our section on Fishing to add some details of 

 interest. Meanwhile, as we go forth into the pathless 

 sea we reach the limits which we have laid down for 

 ourselves in our description of the Great River Systems 

 of the World. As we have gone along we have 

 briefly sketched the leading features of what seemed 

 to us a typical series of the most prominent among 

 these " great drainage works " of Nature ; and in closing 

 this chapter, we venture to point out the enormous 

 strategic and commercial importance which the control 

 of the principal waterways into the heart of great 

 continents has always exercised upon the past history 



* Admiralty Sailing Directions The St. Lawrence River Pilot, 1882, 

 Vol. i., p. 40. Published by Order of the Lords Commissioners of the 

 Admiralty. See also, The Admiralty Chart of The Magdalen Islands 

 No. 1134. 



