CHAPTER VII 



A VISIT TO THE OUTPORTS OF THE SOUTH COAST 



When I first visited Newfoundland, it was with the light 

 heart of one who goes out to spend a short holiday in a new 

 land, and to gain a few hunting trophies for his collection. 

 Newfoundland, I thought, might prove worth a visit, and, like 

 many another country, that one visit would be sufficient. But 

 this was not the case. However, instead of a well-known 

 and easily reached hunting-ground of only passing interest, I 

 had found after my second trip a half-explored and altogether 

 delightful country teeming with game ; such a land, in fact, 

 as men who love the woods speak of with respect, and which 

 is, alas, generally mentioned with regret as belonging to the 

 days that have gone by. I had found a way into the interior 

 where other men had not attempted to go ; and to me Central 

 Newfoundland represented one great deer forest, over the 

 greater part of which I could wander at will without the 

 chance of seeing a human soul. To the general reader this 

 may seem a selfish pleasure. To a certain extent I must 

 admit it is, but on the other hand every big-game hunter of 

 to-day is searching for such a land of promise, and can 

 scarcely find it without travelling far. 



It is one of the greatest truisms that when a fisherman 

 has caught a twenty-pound salmon he can never rest until he 

 has achieved the distinction of landing one of forty pounds ; 

 and when this notable achievement is reached, visions of fifty- 

 pounders will ever afterwards float before his eyes. So, too, 

 the caribou hunter cannot tamely sit down and gaze with 



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