NEWFOUNDLAND 



AND ITS UNTRODDEN WAYS 

 CHAPTER I 



INTO THE TERRA-NOVA COUNTRY 



The Indians say that when Manitou, the Great Spirit, was 

 making the Continent of the New World, he found that he 

 had much material left over in the shape of rocks, swamps, 

 and useless trees. So he formed a big rubbish heap by casting 

 it all into the sea to the north-east, and called it Wee-soc-kadao. 

 Several years after, Cabot discovered and claimed the island 

 for Great Britain, when it was called Newfoundland. 



The world in general knows little of Newfoundland, and 

 the average Englishman imagines it to be a little bit of a 

 place somewhere near the North Pole, which, with two or 

 three other colonies, could be safely stowed away behind the 

 village pump. If he has been to school, he will have learnt 

 that it is our oldest colonial possession, famous for codfish, 

 caribou, and national debts. To him the island is inseparably 

 connected with fogs, dogs, and bogs, just as he imagines 

 Africa to be a "mass of lions mixed with sand." 



Should he wish to be still further enlightened as to its size, 

 he will find that one cannot watch seals in the Straits of Belle 

 Isle and walk down to tea at St. John's on the same day ; in fact, 

 it is one-sixth larger than Ireland, and has an area of 42,000 

 square miles. Moreover, it may be of interest to know that 



