78 NEWFOUNDLAND 



twenty miles up the stream, for at this distance the workable 

 timber ceased. As to the navigability of the river, neither 

 he nor any one else knew anything, but it was thought that 

 "steady" water existed for thirty-five miles to a point where 

 there was a waterfall. Beyond this nothing was known, but 

 as James Howley,^ the geographer, with his two Indians, 

 had reached a point over seventy miles up this river some 

 time in the seventies, I hoped to be able to do the same, 

 and, if the water held good to the Partridgeberry Hills, to 

 portage across to Dog Lake and river system, and work 

 south to Hermitage Bay on the south coast. 



I stayed a week in St. John's with my friend Mr, 

 Hesketh Prichard, who was bound for the Labrador. 

 Waiting to start on an expedition is always tiresome, but 

 our delay on this occasion was made pleasant through the 

 acquaintance of Judge Prowse and other friends. The 

 Judge is certainly one of the most interesting characters in the 

 island, for he was born and educated there, and understands 

 the people of his country as no other man does. He is a 

 man of over seventy, but his vitality and energy are that of 

 a schoolboy. He talked all the time, and I listened, which 

 just suited us both, for one was never tired of listening to 

 characteristic stories of the men of the sea and the woods ; 

 and he can tell his stories with a due appreciation of the 

 humour and pathos of human life. 



The life of a judge in Newfoundland, until he reaches the 

 highest rank, is not one to be envied. He has both to try 

 the case and get up evidence for the prosecution as the 



' Mr. Howley, in a letter to Mr. Blair, said : " I should not recommend Mr. 

 Millais trying this route. It is too difficult for canoe navigation owing to the 

 scarcity of water in the Gander during the summer season. We were obliged to 

 abandon our own canoes some twenty miles above the Gander Lake after nearly 

 tearing them to pieces, and to proceed on foot the remainder of the journey." 



