NOTES ON NEWFOUNDLAND. 271 



the west, until it is lost. A new world seemed to invite 

 us onward, or rather we claimed the dominion, and were 

 impatient to take possession. Our view extended for 

 more than forty miles in all directions, and the great 

 exterior features of the eastern portion of the main body 

 of the island are seen perfectly from these commanding 

 heights. 



"September 11. — "We descended into the bosom of the 

 interior. 



" The plains which shone so brilliantly are steppes, or 

 savannas, composed of fine black compact peat mould, 

 formed by the growth and decay of mosses (principally 

 the Sphagnum capillifolium), and covered uniformly with/ 

 wiry grass, the Euphrasia officinalis being in some places 

 intermixed. They are in the form of extensive gently 

 undulating beds, stretching northwards and southwards, 

 with running waters and lakes, skirted with woods, lying 

 between them. Their yellow-green surfaces are some- 

 times uninterrupted by either tree, shrub, rock, or any 

 inequality for more than ten miles. They are chequered 

 everywhere upon the surface by deep-beaten deer paths, 

 and are in reality magnificent deer-parks, adorned by 

 woods and water. The trees here sometimes grow to a 

 considerable size, particularly the larch; birch is also 

 common. The deer herd upon them to graze. It is 

 impossible to describe the grandeur and richness of the 

 scenery, which will probably remain long undefined by 

 the hand of man, in search of whose associations the 

 eye vainly wandered. 



" Our progress over the savanna country was attended 

 with great labour, and consequently slow, being only at 

 a rate of five to seven miles a day to the westward, 



