TO NEWFOUNDLAND 165 



running, the answer came back that they were 

 all in the ponds, which I did not quite under- 

 stand at the time, but anything was better than 

 five days in St. John's, so on Saturday, August 

 20th, I started by the morning train for 

 Placentia and Fulford's. 



The rain came down in torrents as we left 

 St. John's at 8.45 a.m. and lasted till we arrived 

 at Placentia at 1.45 eighty miles in five hours. 

 These Newfoundland trains are certainly not 

 flyers. 



Placentia is very beautifully situated at the 

 junction of the two arms of the sea, known as 

 the south-east and the north-east arms. The 

 main town is on a spit of land which extends 

 out into the sea, making the one entrance to 

 either arm a very narrow channel, and through 

 this the full force of the tide races, causing 

 whirlpools and eddies which looked anything 

 but safe. The foreshore was composed of large 

 round stones, not pebbles, and the roar of these 

 as they washed up and down the beach by the 

 waves is one of the characteristics of Placentia. 

 They say the people of Placentia talk louder 

 than any one else in the island on account of 

 this. 



I was met at the station by George Kelly 

 from Fulford's, who told me he had a buggy 

 waiting for me across the ferry; but food was 



