CHAPTER III 



TO THE HUNTING GROUNDS 



THE following day, the 29th, I had to wait 

 for the men to come back, so did not start till 

 10.30. The track led up the steep hill behind 

 Ryan's house. It was rough going, but nothing 

 in daylight, and the air that morning made 

 one feel glad to be alive. After a steady rise 

 of about two miles we came on to a great wild 

 plateau with hardly a tree to be seen, and I 

 had my first experience of the great barrens of 

 Newfoundland. The colouring was exquisite, 

 and though desolate in the extreme the scenery 

 had a great charm of its own, chiefly due to 

 effects of light and shade. 



Deep shadows thrown by the fleecy clouds 

 overhead fell on ridges far away and gave an 

 idea of immensity and distance without which 

 the view might have been monotonous. The 

 air was extraordinarily clear: a ridge which 

 looked a couple of miles away was pointed out 

 to me as six- mile ridge, the head of the divide, 

 from which the ground sloped away to our 

 destination, Hungry Grove Pond. It took us 



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