TO LONG HARBOUR 185 



and on rather low ground. A very heavy dew 

 fell during the night and everything was soak- 

 ing in the morning. As the fishing was not 

 likely to prove a success we decided to return 

 to Ryan's and push on after our men. Getting 

 away about 12 o'clock, for I had sent Steve 

 back to Ryan's on foot to borrow their dory 

 which brought our camp up, we stopped to 

 boil the kettle and have lunch near a settler's 

 place just beyond the mouth of the river. He 

 was a hardy old man, by name Joe Riggs, 

 and though he had recently undergone several 

 operations in the hospital at St. John's to 

 remove some diseased ribs, he was working 

 away all alone getting in his hay. He was very 

 lonely and sad for he had only recently lost his 

 wife, and the way he spoke about her was very 

 touching. In winter, however, he went down 

 to Anderson's Cove, a small settlement at the 

 mouth of Long Harbour, where a married 

 daughter lived. Among the solitary settlers 

 I met, of whom Joe Riggs was a type, it was 

 remarkable how the spot they had selected for 

 settling on was the very finest to be found, and 

 to poor old Joe, Long Harbour was a sort of 

 earthly Paradise which he would not exchange 

 for any other part of Newfoundland. 



On reaching Ryan's, where I was ashamed 

 to trespass once more on his hospitality for the 



