CHAPTER X. 



NOTES ON NEWFOUNDLAND. 



I KNOW of no country so near England which offers 

 the same amount of inducement to the explorer, natu- 

 ralist, or sportsman as Newfoundland. To one who 

 combines the advantages of a good practical knowledge 

 of geology with the love of sport the interior of this 

 great island, much of which is quite unknown, may 

 indeed prove a field of valuable and remunerative 

 discovery, for its mineral resources, now under the 

 examination of a Government geological survey, are 

 unquestionably of vast importance, and quite unde- 

 veloped. Numerous discoveries of copper have been 

 made at various points, particularly on the western side, 

 and coal and petroleum have been found in the interior. 

 So completely, however, is the population devoted to 

 the prosecution of the fisheries, that even agriculture is 

 unheeded, though there is plenty of good land close to 

 the harbours. Between these, with the exception of a 

 few roads in the province of Avalon (the peninsula 

 which contains the capital of the colony, St. John's), 

 there is no communication except by water. 



As a field for sport, likewise, Newfoundland is but 

 little known. Some half-dozen or so of regular visitors 

 from the continent, one or two resident sportsmen, and 



