426 



AUDUBON 



A BALL IN NEWFOUNDLAND 



On our return from the singularly wild and interesting 

 country of Labrador, the •' Ripley " sailed close along the 

 northern coast of Newfoundland. The weather was mild 

 and clear, and, while my young companions amused them- 

 selves on the deck with the music of various instruments, 

 I gazed on the romantic scenery spread along the bold 

 and often magnificent shores. Portions of the wilds ap- 

 peared covered with a luxuriance of vegetable growth, 

 far surpassing that of the regions which we had just left, 

 and in some of the valleys I thought I saw trees of mod- 

 erate size. The number of habitations increased apace, 

 and many small vessels and boats danced on the waves of 

 the coves which we passed. Here a precipitous shore 

 looked like the section of a great mountain, of which the lost 

 half had sunk into the depths of the sea, and the dashing of 

 the waters along its base was such as to alarm the most dar- 

 ing seaman. The huge masses of broken rock impressed 

 my mind with awe and reverence, as I thought of the power 

 that still gave support to the gigantic fragments which 

 everywhere hung, as if by magic, over tht sea, awaiting, 

 as it were, the proper moment to fall upon and crush 

 the impious crew of some piratical vessel. There, again, 

 gently swelling hills reared their heads towards the sky, 

 as if desirous of existing within the influence of its azure 

 purity ; and I thought the bleatings of Reindeer came on 

 my ear. Dark clouds of Curlews were seen winging their 

 way towards the south, and thousands of Larks and Warblers 

 were flitting through the air. The sight of these birds 

 excited in me a wish that I also had wings to fly back to 

 my country and friends. 



Early one morning our vessel doubled the northern cape 

 of the Bay of St. George, and, as the wind was light, the 

 sight of that magnificent expanse of water, which extends 



